Neon Genesis Evangelion: Yajirushi no Sentan
by WanderingStudent
Summary: Evangelion/Arrow crossover. After ten years on a hellish island, one person has returned to Tokyo-3. With a legacy built on the blood of billions on their back, they will bring justice to the men who have poisoned this world. But to do that, they will need to become someone else - something else.
1. Episode 1 - The Return - Part 1

_Evangelion is property of Studio Khara and GAINAX._

_Green Arrow and Arrow are property of DC Comics and the CW._

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><p>It was cold. It was always cold.<p>

But today, a lone figure was warm, their body kept so by adrenaline and blood pumping through their veins as they struggled to reach their destination. Clad in little more than ragged pants, a worn grey jacket, and a green hood, they scrambled up a steep rock face, weathered bare feet and powerful muscles collaborating to propel the solitary soul up and over the boulder, and then to leap across and catch a hefty, reliable branch. Swinging across with powerful arms, they landed and smoothly rolled across a dirt slope, before breaking into a sprint.

Breath haggard from having made a desperate dash lasting well over fifteen minutes, the figure sucked in a breath and leapt down, their eyes locked on one thing, and one thing only – a solitary fishing boat, slowly ploughing through belligerent black tide.

Scaling a sizable hill of rock and sand, the figure let out a small sound of relief as they came upon a beaten, wooden crate secured with metal hinges. Opening it, they reached inside and produced two things – a bow, sturdy and wooden, with smooth black arms and markings spreading out across the main body, and an arrow, with the length just below the tip wrapped in thin cloth.

The figure struck the flint against a nearby rock, and it sparked – the cloth catching fire. Nocking the arrow and drawing back the bow quickly, its master took aim at a pyre on a nearby beach, and fired.

The arrow soared through the air, and struck its target dead centre – the small flame from the arrow served to ignite reserves of gunpowder and rudimentary explosives, and a great gout of flame stretched up into the sky.

Slowly, painfully, the fishing boat began to turn towards the beach, and the figure let out a breath.

* * *

><p><em>The name of the island they found me on is Lian Yu. <em>

_It's Mandarin – for Purgatory._

* * *

><p>As two men, clad in heavy coats and bandanas walked up the beach, they paused, their expressions stunned as the hooded figure walked towards them, still clutching the bow in their arms. Long, matted brown hair obscured their features, and the men approached, tentatively.<p>

* * *

><p><em>I've been stranded here for ten years – and dreamt of my rescue every dark night since then. For ten years, I've had only one thought, one objective – survive.<em>

_Survive and one day return home._

* * *

><p>After some wordless and stunted conversation, the figure found themselves on the boat, wrapped in a thick blanket, looking back at the beach and the island it belonged to, watching as the sight slowly became smaller. Next to them, was the wooden crate – the bow resting safely inside.<p>

One of the men came to the figure, and instinctively, a hand came over the crate. The man paused, and held up a cup of steaming liquid. Slowly, hands reached out and grasped it, and the man backed away, patting them on the shoulder. The figure took a small sip.

* * *

><p><em>The island held many dangers, obstacles – to overcome them, I had to make myself more than what I was, to forge myself into a weapon.<em>

_I am returning – not the scholar or scientist that was stranded here, but the warrior that will bring justice to those who would think themselves gods._

* * *

><p>From under the hood, the figure stared at the island, and gave a small smirk of triumph.<p>

* * *

><p><em>My name is Yui Ikari.<em>

* * *

><p><strong><em>NEON GENESIS EVANGELION: YAJIRUSHI NO SENTAN<em>**

* * *

><p>"<strong>I'm Hideki Anno with Channel Five, and here's what's making news. Following a string of recent high-profile burglaries in downtown Tokyo-3, several retailers have petitioned the city for increased security measures. This is the fourteenth such burglary to be committed by the so-called 'Tokyo Cat'. Each burglary has resulted in the loss of goods valuing well above six million yen."<strong>

"**And in other, perhaps more fantastical news, a Tokyo-3 resident, previously thought dead, has returned. Yui Ikari, a high-profile bioengineer and wife to NERV Commander Gendo Ikari, was previously assumed deceased, following a plane crash over the North China Sea ten years ago, but was found only three days ago by an errant fishing boat. The Boeing-777 was carrying 223 other passengers when it went down, all of whom have been confirmed deceased."**

* * *

><p>Through a window, Gendo Ikari looked at his wife for the first time in ten years.<p>

After all that he had gone through, all he had done in pursuit of his goals, he had never been rattled, never lost his composure – but seeing Yui here, now – _alive_ – kept his heart hammering, kept his breath catching in his throat. There were so many things that Gendo needed to do, needed to say – but he tried to keep some measure of restraint. He wasn't entirely sure, but if he went in there right this moment, he might break into tears at his wife's feet.

Behind him, Ritsuko debriefed him on the results of his wife's physical. Whilst she didn't seem outwardly affected by Yui's return, he could tell she was noticing what it was doing to him – every now and then he would receive an odd glance from the doctor, who had never before seen him so stunned, so aimless.

"She has scar tissue over twenty percent of her body - there's also evidence of second degree burns on her back that healed some time ago. The x-rays showed eleven fractures that never properly healed."

The Commander of NERV clenched his fist to avoid making a sound. On the other side of the glass, his wife stared blankly ahead, out of her room's window showing the evening expanse of the Geofront. Even through the plain white shirt she wore, he could see her time on the island had changed her – gone was the slender, elegant scientist who had been lost all those years ago. Instead, the hard lines of a body tempered by pain and struggle were evident, previously absent muscles defined and prominent. In all honesty, the sight was somewhat strange, at first.

_It doesn't matter. It's Yui. Yui's alive._

"Has she said anything? About what happened on the island?" Gendo finally spoke, and he silently berated himself for the waver in his voice. Ritsuko shook her head, gazing at the woman on the other side of the window.

"Not a word. She's barely spoken at all, actually."

Frowning for the briefest of moments, Gendo made his way towards the door leading into the room. Behind him, Ritsuko cleared her throat, and he turned slightly, eyes flitting towards her.

"With all due respect, sir…the woman they found on that island may not be your wife. At least, not any more." The bottle blonde said, her words carrying the slightest hint of sympathy.

The man's eyes narrowed, before he turned towards the door once more.

Pressing the button to open it, he steadied himself as the metal door slid open with a faint sound, and gazed into the room. He took one step in, then another, and Yui turned.

_Her eyes._

Her features had been sharpened slightly by her ordeal, her body had been torn and warped by her struggles, but her eyes were still bright – those green orbs seeming to pierce right through him as they widened.

"Gendo…" Yui whispered, her voice somewhat raspy, and she moved forward, almost tentatively, eyes shining and expression disbelieving.

"Yui." The Commander replied, before swallowing.

The two stared at each other for too many agonising moments, before a noise left Yui's throat and she surged forward. Gendo almost leapt to meet his wife in the middle, arms wrapping around her in a crushing embrace. The two clung to each other like a shipwrecked sailor to driftwood – as if they might die if they let the other go. Gendo's glasses clattered to the floor, thrown off by the violence of the embrace, but he could care less.

When the two finally broke apart, it was only for a brief moment before their lips met. The kiss was not passionate, full of energy and vigour as the Commander had often remembered, but it didn't need to be. It was simply a reminder to the both of them that the other was in front of them, they were alive, that this wasn't some cruel dream teasing them with the promise of a better tomorrow.

* * *

><p>From the other side of the glass, Ritsuko watched as the two separated once again, looking into each other's eyes. She decided to give them space - it was only polite. Besides, moments like these left a bitter taste in her mouth.<p>

Walking away, one thought kept bouncing around the doctor's mind.

_Wonder what Mother will think of this._

* * *

><p>"I thought you were dead." Gendo blurted out, then glanced away for the briefest of moments, cursing his lack of self-control. In front of him, Yui simply smiled, a small, subdued smile, and reached up, cupping his cheek with her hands.<p>

"I'm here." She whispered, brushing her thumb along his cheekbone. "And," her smile widened, "You have a beard. That's new."

Gendo let out a sound similar to a sob mixed with a laugh, clutching his wife's hand to his face. "You said I never had the bone structure for it." He murmured, and his wife tilted her head, her hand coming down to brush along the hair.

"I was wrong. You suit it." Yui mused, with a grin. "Makes you look layered. Seasoned."

"Seasoned?" Gendo questioned, arching one eyebrow. "Terrible thing to say to a man." The Commander chuckled then flinched as the woman in front of him embraced him once again, pressing her cheek to his chest.

"Yui?" Gendo asked, his arms tentatively wrapping around her once again.

"It's just…your heartbeat." The woman murmured. "You're real." She let out a great sigh, and pulled back, looking up at her husband with joyful, expectant eyes.

"And Shinji?" Yui asked, her smile bright. "How has Shinji been?"

"Good. He's been good…I'll take you over to NERV, he should be there now." Gendo replied, his hands on his wife's shoulders.

"NERV?" Yui parroted, brow creasing with frustration.

"GEHIRN with a new coat of paint." The man supplied, and she nodded in understanding.

"Then," Yui began, moving away from her husband. "Let me get a coat, some proper clothes – oh, and I have to be officially discharged, don't I?" Across from her, Gendo shook his head, with a smirk. "Let me take care of that. You have to see our son."

* * *

><p>"You've brightened the place up." Yui observed, walking through the well-lit corridors of the NERV facility. "I remember it to be a lot more…foreboding."<p>

"The staff complained." Gendo supplied.

"And you listened?" His wife queried, looking back at him with a raised eyebrow. "Honestly, it grew on me. Made it seem like some kind of fantasy realm."

"A janitor tripped and broke his neck because he couldn't see ten feet in front of him." The Commander replied, tone neutral.

"Ah."

The two walked on in silence for a few moments before Yui turned, her expression inquisitive.

"I've been meaning to ask – I've always wondered – what about EVA? I couldn't make it to the Contact Experiment. For obvious reasons…" The woman conceded. "Still, what happened?"

Gendo took a deep breath, before speaking, as he began to walk forward. Yui kept up with him, occasionally glancing at the corridors she had previously walked down ten years ago – everything seemed different – brighter.

"Initially, after you were…declared missing, we planned to conduct a trial with Kyoko instead. However, before we did, we discovered a bug."

"A bug?" Yui asked, curious.

"A fatal error. One that would have resulted in your body being broken down to LCL."

Behind Gendo, Yui paled, looking down at the floor.

"Then I guess…it's some kind of twisted good fortune that I ended up on that island." The woman finally replied, and her husband looked at her for a brief moment, his expression unreadable.

"I use good in a very subjective sense." Yui continued, haltingly, and Gendo sighed, rubbing his brow with the back of his hand. "I'm sorry, it's just…it's all still just a bit of a shock." He murmured.

"No, it's my fault." The woman apologised, coming up and placing a hand on the man's shoulder. "My fault."

Gendo met her gaze for a moment, and then straightened, before walking off again, with Yui close behind.

"After many attempts to correct it, we realised that it wasn't a small flaw – the entire system was broken by design. So, we started fresh." The Commander moved to press a button next to a door, and it slid open. The man ushered Yui through, and she stepped into another corridor, this one shorter.

"We pursued many alternatives, but the only option that held any real promise was Artificial Intelligence. After constructing a base framework using a supercomputer prototype from Naoko as a template, we built on it, constantly improving until we had a consciousness capable of managing both EVA, and interfacing with a human pilot." As Gendo spoke, his wife nodded slowly.

"Impressive."

"It took years – but it was worth it. And after that, we found other ways to innovate, other ways to improve EVA." In front of them, another door slid open, and after Gendo guided her through, Yui laid eyes on the main control bridge of NERV.

At first glance, everything appeared the same – the Operations towers towards the rear of the vast expanse - though it seemed to be somewhat bulkier than she remembered - and the walkways on either side, but after glancing behind her, she realised that there was a massive, three dimensional map of what appeared to be the city of Tokyo-3, and beyond that, a segmented monitor of even greater size, built into the wall.

"Yui – my love." Gendo approached behind her, his hand on her shoulder, and she idly reached up to grasp it. "These are the fruits of your labour."

On the screen, eight strange figures came into view, and only after a few seconds did she realise what they were.

The overall design had remained unchanged from what Yui had remembered, but she had never thought there would be _so many_.

Each was different – if in colour, or armour detail, or build.

"This is the Evangelion Troop." Gendo said, and Yui stared at the screen, awestruck.

* * *

><p><strong>I'm not exactly sure why I'm putting out another story, especially whenever I'm currently trying to get myself to focus up and continue Senshi No Michi, but this idea just hasn't left me alone for the past week. I'm not quite sure what's stranger - the fact that I'm doing an Arrow crossover, of all things, or that it's Yui Ikari pulling herself up the salmon ladder and not someone else.<strong>

**Let's hope you enjoy where this goes! Please read and review.**


	2. Episode 1 - The Return - Part 2

_Evangelion is property of Studio Khara and GAINAX._

_Green Arrow and Arrow are property of DC Comics and the CW._

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><p><strong><em>NEON GENESIS EVANGELION: YAJIRUSHI NO SENTAN<em>**

* * *

><p>"Amazing…." Yui whispered, stepping forward as she gazed at the screen. Leaning her hands on the railing of the walkway, she gazed at the image for a few more seconds before she looked back at her husband. "How did you amass the resources to build so many?" She asked, glancing back at the screen for a moment.<p>

The EVAs had begun to separate into two groups of four, and the image on screen divided into two as they made their way to the opposite ends of the city.

"As I said – we found ways to innovate. There are eight active EVA Units in Japan, six in the USA, four in the UK and seven in Europe. We're running a virtual reality drill at the moment, using simulation bodies down in the Project E department." Gendo explained, gesturing at the screen, smiling at his wife's enthusiasm.

"I'm sure you're eager to examine the state of the Project." The Commander mused.

"I never thought…it's one thing to see a prototype, but to see it in the flesh, as a realised concept…" Yui drifted off, a warm smile spreading across her face, before it disappeared moments later, replaced by a quirked eyebrow and curious eyes as she looked back at her husband.

"Wait – what about Shinji? I _have_ to see our son." the woman inquired, and the Commander nodded.

"We'll see him down there. Come on – I'm sure he's desperate to meet you."

* * *

><p>"Keep your weapon up, Suzuhara!" A clipped, harsh voice came over the communications system, an American accent lacing every syllable of Japanese.<p>

"Don't tell me how to do my job, Wayne!" A brash Kansai dialect replied, loud and uncomfortable.

"Will the both of you _shut up_?" A third voice came, shrill and female.

In the midst of it all, Shinji Ikari groaned, leaning forward and resting his head in his hands. The four of them were currently running a four-versus-four training scenario, designed to train as many skills as possible for effective EVA operation, and although they had already dispatched two of their four opponents, things could have been going better.

Then again, every time Damian Wayne and Toji Suzuhara were together, they never got along, so that was a lie. It was actually one of their less vitriolic moments, to be fair, but that didn't mean much to the fiery Asuka Langley Sohryu, who was more than fed up with the pair of them.

As powerful, booming shots rang out from somewhere in the distance, Shinji willed his EVA to duck behind one of Tokyo-3's tallest skyscrapers, taking cover from whomever the sniper was. As the purple and green EVA clutched its rifle to its chest, rounds tore away at metal and stone above and beside him.

One of the sniper rounds tore through the midsection of the building, and clipped the EVA's left side, and Shinji gasped in shock.

Just to the front and left of his head, a holographic construct formed, a facsimile of a female, teenage head with a mop of choppily cut blue hair, deathly pale skin, and dark red eyes.

**"Pilot Ikari."** The head spoke, its voice and expression deadpan. **"Your cover appears to have been compromised. I recommend moving as quickly as possible to avoid any further damage."**

"Noted, Rei." Shinji muttered, and ducked round to the other side. He fired once, twice with his single-shot rifle, aiming at nothing in particular, before moving back to cover. He chanced a glance at the others – from what he could see, all of his team were still in the fight.

Asuka, in the crimson EVA Unit Two, was taking potshots aimed across the shopping district – whilst Toji in EVA Unit Three and Damian in EVA Unit Seven were attempting to make their way up downtown without getting riddled with bullets from the sniper – but it was clear that there had been a breakdown in communication. The two of them had no synergy, no cooperation, and it was going to get both of them eliminated.

**"Pilot Ikari. I suggest you look up."**

At Rei's insistence, he glanced up – the building he was cowering behind was beginning to crumple in the middle, the upper half tipping and only seconds away from toppling on him. With a strangled curse, he leapt away, clutching his rifle to the EVA's chest as more shots from the sniper grazed him.

_This could be going better._

Staggering to another suitable piece of cover, he looked down at his rifle, and groaned – he must have landed badly, because the massive weapon had broken in the middle. With a tired sigh, he willed the EVA to toss the useless gun away, then glanced at Rei.

"Rei, where's the closest weapon depot?"

**"The closest depot is eleven blocks away, on your left, Pilot Ikari. It contains one Progressive Spear, and a set of Heavy Pistols."** Rei replied, and the boy groaned.

"Is that all?"

**"That is all, Pilot Ikari."** The hologram clarified.

"Then mark it." Shinji said, watching as a tall building some ways away was outlined by a glowing blue film.

"Hey, Third!" Asuka's voice rang out over the communications, and he glanced back to see EVA Unit Two crouching down and trying to signal to him. "When you're done resting, can you take care of those two? Your stooge friend is going to get Wayne eliminated."

"I need to get a weapon!" The boy replied, beginning to make a dash for the depot highlighted in the EVA's vision. He skidded to a stop, the EVA's feet tearing up asphalt, as EVA Unit Two's rifle came soaring towards him. Catching it deftly, he glanced at the scarlet EVA, who was already on the move towards the weapons depot.

"The sniper's close, twenty blocks away. I think it's Makinami - she's set up behind the old factory. I need you to keep laying down suppressive bursts, I'll see if I can get around, connect with the rest of them and close in on her position."

"Got it…" Shinji muttered, hefting the rifle up. As the EVA's HUD focused in on the factory, he noticed a muzzle flash, and fired a three-round burst. Immediately, he caught a glimpse of green, as the sniper moved to better cover.

"You two still alive? Or do I have to cover for the both of you again?" Asuka questioned, and was met with a snort from Toji, and some kind of tutting noise from Damian.

Little by little, Shinji began to grin as he whittled away at the factory, boxing in the sniper with gunfire and revealing their position as more of the old building crumbled.

Suddenly, his vision was obscured, turning black, and he reeled as EVA Unit One was pushed down to the ground and pinned. Looking up, Shinji's eyes widened – the blue and orange form of EVA Mark Six was above him, progressive knife ready to dig into his EVA's throat.

"So _nice_ to have you under me again, Shinji." The voice of Mark Six's pilot was gentle and lilting, and brought a blush of indignation to the boy's cheeks. Bringing up his forearm, he blocked an attempt to bury the knife in Unit One's forehead, and replied with a powerful punch that knocked his opponent off and into a nearby building.

"Third, where's my suppression?" Asuka squawked, as Shinji charged forward and grappled with the other EVA for control of the knife.

_Kaworu's a capable pilot, but he's always fallen up short in hand-to-hand._

Blocking Mark Six's first slash at Unit One's head, and ducking under the subsequent reverse attack, Shinji quickly reached up, and trapped the arm wielding the knife, bringing it across his shoulder and jerking it down hard.

He heard Kaworu yelp in pain, and the knife clattered to the ground. Tossing Mark Six away, Shinji quickly had his EVA retrieve the blade, and before his opponent could rise to his feet again, he leapt onto the blue and orange EVA, and plunged the blade into its throat.

**"Opponent eliminated. One enemy remaining."** Rei chimed, and Shinji breathed a sigh of relief, just before he heard Toji curse, loudly.

**"EVA Unit Three has been eliminated."** Rei supplied.

"_THIRD!" _Unit Two's pilot howled over the communications.

"Sorry, Asuka!" Shinji shouted, snatching the rifle from the ground and getting back into a firing position.

* * *

><p>"Goddamnit!" Asuka cursed, as she ducked just in time to avoid a sniper round that, instead of reducing her EVA's head to assorted pieces of grey matter, bone and metal, simply tore off the upper half of EVA Unit Two's left shoulder pylon. With the two pistols she had retrieved clutched tightly in her EVA's hands, she rolled behind cover, trying to collect herself.<p>

"Asuka, I'm back in position! You're covered!" Shinji called, and the redhead immediately sprang back up, making sure to keep her EVA crouched low just in case.

"Wayne – what's your status?" She asked, glancing around to try and catch a glimpse of the red and black Unit Seven.

"_-tt- _Rifle's flushed."

Asuka watched as Damian tossed away the semi-automatic weapon he had been using, and flattened himself against a building.

Carefully, she made her way down the street until she could face him, the two EVAS only six blocks apart.

"Wayne." Asuka called.

"Hm?" EVA Unit Seven looked up.

"Catch." Unit Two tossed one of its two pistols to the other EVA, who caught it with one hand and took a moment to examine it.

"We still covered, Third?" Asuka asked, and for a few moments, there was nothing, until Shinji replied, voice wavering.

"Yeah, But my gun's almost dry. If you're gonna move, do it quickly."

Sighing, Asuka looked over at Unit Seven, who looked back at her.

"You head down the street behind you, I'll take this one." Asuka indicated the direction with a motion of the EVA's pistol.

"Helix Pattern?" The pilot of Unit Seven suggested.

"Seems good." The redhead replied, readying the pistol.

Suddenly, both EVAs darted around the corners to their respective lefts, and began to sprint down the length of the streets. As they did, they used the tighter paths between each block to move in and out of a central street with every block they cleared.

As another shot flashed out from behind the deteriorating factory, both of them returned fire with shots from their own weapons, steadily approaching their target.

"I'll take the left." Damian muttered, over the communications.

"Got the right." Asuka replied, and as the two EVAs cleared the last of the city blocks standing between them and the factory, Unit Seven sprinted around the left of the ruined building, whilst Unit Two went around the right, weapon hefted.

As the redhead turned the corner of the factory, she watched as the green and grey EVA Unit Five scrambled away from her, rifle discarded, and then stumbled to a stop as Unit Seven stepped out to block it.

"Game over, Favoured Four-Eyes." Asuka smirked, and as Unit Five turned, the teasing, female voice of its pilot just beginning to echo out, she promptly shot the EVA in the head. Following her lead, Unit Seven also unloaded its weapon liberally, until there was nothing left of their target but a mass of twisted metal and muscle.

To the side of Asuka, Rei floated by, the disembodied head giving a small, placid smile.

**"Team One is victorious. Congratulations, Pilot Sohryu."**

* * *

><p>As Shinji stepped out of the Entry Plug – after discreetly hacking the last of the LCL in his lungs back into the capsule – he gave a groan, stretching his arms out. As he did so, the rest of the Entry Plugs pushing out of the back of the limbless, headless Simulation Bodies. As Shinji headed down the metal stairs to the main walkway, he scratched his head absently, accidently causing a clump of dark brown hair to stick up with LCL. A contented smile was stretched across his face – now that his team had come out victorious in the simulation, they wouldn't have to stay late for extra drills.<p>

As he approached the walkway, he saw that several of the pilots were already on there. A few were chatting, others simply headed for the door that would lead back to the locker rooms and much needed showers.

Stepping onto the walkway, he immediately moved back to allow Damian Wayne, the pilot of Unit Seven, past. The boy's deadly blue eyes cut into him, his mouth curling into something that one day, might evolve into a smile.

"You did better than last time, Ikari." He mused, his sharp, western features twisting with a smirk. "Let's see more of the same in the future." With that, Damian turned and headed away from the Simulation chamber, the soles of his red and black plugsuit slapping against the metal. Shinji's eyes narrowed as he watched him for a moment, and then he sighed, turning back around.

_That kid is way too full of himself. Speaking of…_

Moving up the walkway, he looked around for Asuka, who seemed to be engrossed in conversation with the yellow-plugsuited Hikari Horaki.

"I think you're just not doing what Kaji tells you to do. You're moving the gun down in preparation for the recoil, and that's ruining your aim. You simply need to control the recoil – it's a consequence of the shot, nothing else." The redhead lectured, and across from her, the pig-tailed girl nodded, holding up her hands in supplication.

"I know, I know…but I've never been good with guns. The knife comes easier to me, I think." Hikari supplied, and Asuka simply shook her head. "You just need to work at it a bit more – hang on, Hikari." The pilot of Unit Two turned, as Shinji approached, and walked towards him, her expression suddenly stormy.

"_Ikari_. You skipped out on the team – again!" The redhead crossed her arms, sapphire orbs narrowed in distain.

"I don't know if you were paying attention, _Sohryu_, but I was kinda busy." Shinji replied, with a tired tone and countenance.

"Doing what?" Asuka asked, brow furrowed.

"Stopping that guy-"The boy jerked his thumb towards Kaworu, who was walking down the walkway away from them, "From getting inventive with his Progressive Knife." The waifish pilot of Mark Six must have somehow heard them, for he turned around and gave a wave, a friendly and oblivious expression on his face. Shinji glanced back, then turned to face Asuka, a nauseous expression on his face.

The redhead stayed silent for a moment, before grinning.

"Alright, fine. But keep your eyes open next time. You're lucky we won this one." Asuka said, walking past the pilot of Unit One and slapping him on the shoulder. She indicated for Hikari to come with her, and the freckled girl did so, walking past Shinji with a mumbled congratulations and a meagre bow.

Chewing his lip contemplatively, the pilot of Unit One leaned back against the railing, staring up at the high, cold metal of the ceiling. It certainly wasn't a difficult life, he observed. He had a comfortable home, no shortage of friends – although some of them were abnormal, to say the least. And while he was on the subject of abnormal friends, he looked back down the walkway at the sound of Mana Kirashima's surprised yelp, and his eyes widened as Mari Illustrious Makinami sprinted towards him in her hot-pink plugsuit, before pouncing with feline grace onto the railing beside him.

"Heeeey there, Puppy. Seen the Princess anywhere?" The girl asked, her head tilted in curiosity. As she spoke, she kept an offbeat, easy air about her, not seeming to pay much attention to the fact that she would be there for several more hours before the evening was over.

"Eh…yeah. I think she was just heading to the locker rooms with Hikari." Shinji supplied, then stepped away from the railing as Mari leapt down onto the walkway again.

"Ah. Then I better hurry. Much obliged, Puppy!" With an energetic wave, Mari was headed to the exit, and Shinji watched her sprint away. As peculiar as the half-Brit was, it was hard not to be brightened up by her constant exuberance.

Mari halted in front of the door, and the boy furrowed his brow, watching as she gave a salute, along with a smile and a bow, and edged her way past someone else – his father.

As Shinji made his way towards him, he noted that there was something off about the older man, and for a few seconds, it escaped him.

Then the boy realised, his father was _smiling. _Not one of those seldom-seen devious smiles where he was narrating what was next on the agenda for NERV, or an imperceptible quirk of the lips in response to an otherwise uproarious joke, but a full-on, cheerful smile. It was strange – his father was an implacable, reliable pillar of stoicism, and here he was, looking like Christmas had come early.

_No, poor example. Dad is dour at Christmas, too – but in a festive way._

"Shinji. You did well in the simulation – excellent work." The man said, and the all-encompassing warmth in his voice really, really creeped Shinji out.

"Oh. Thanks, Dad." The pilot of Unit One shifted for a moment, before speaking again. "Is everything okay? You seem a little…off."

"No, no – off wouldn't be the word for it. Haven't you seen the news?"

"No. Should I start watching?" Shinji replied, and his father laughed, prompting raised eyebrows from the boy.

_Things are definitely up._

Gendo prompted his son to follow him with a motion of his hand, and slowly, Shinji stepped into the hall.

"Seriously, Dad," Shinji began, looking at his father. "Is everything alright? I've never seen you like –" in the middle of speaking, Shinji turned to look down the hallway, and all the breath left his lungs.

Standing there, dressed in hospital-issue clothes, pink slippers and a too-large coat was his _Mother. _

The boy stared ahead blankly for a small eternity, as he struggled to process what he was seeing. Finally, something finally clicked, and he ran towards her, his eyes growing hot.

"Mom!" Shinji called, his voice loud and disbelieving. "Mom!"

She looked almost as Shinji had remembered her, as she had looked in all the photographs – the same warm eyes, same hair, the same beautiful face – and _alive_. Not _dead_, like everyone, like he had thought these past ten years.

_My mother is alive!_

The boy collided with his mother, hugging her fiercely, and the woman let out a joyful laugh, arms around Shinji's waist as she spun him around.

_And strong. Really, really strong!_

Finally, when she had let him back down to the floor, he looked up at his mother, tears of unbridled joy running down his cheeks. His voice was broken, unwilling to form any coherent sentence.

"Mom, I…I…" The boy stammered helplessly, and the woman smiled, tears of her own running down her face.

"My beautiful boy." His mother spoke, with a voice that he only remembered from warm, pleasant dreams. "My boy, you've grown so much…"

She reached up, her thumb beginning to wipe her son's tears away, and Shinji laughed, a quiet, pleasant laugh followed by a sniff.

"I'm so sorry. I'm sorry I was gone…" The brown-haired woman whispered, her voice cracking. "Shinji, my son, I'm so sorry."

His mother pressed him to her chest, fingers stroking through his hair, and suddenly, the world seemed impossibly, unbelievably bright.

* * *

><p><strong>Doesn't it all just make you want to tearbend? No? Then you're made of stone. Or I'm a terrible writer. Let's hope it's the former. Read and review! And don't worry, if any of you are waiting to see our leading lady stick arrows in people, I'm getting to that!<strong>


	3. Episode 1 - The Return - Part 3

_Evangelion is property of Studio Khara and GAINAX._

_Green Arrow and Arrow are property of DC Comics and the CW._

* * *

><p><strong><em>NEON GENESIS EVANGELION: YAJIRUSHI NO SENTAN<em>**

* * *

><p><em>Ten years ago.<em>

* * *

><p>Brushing an errant strand of hair away from her face, Yui made her way down the aisle of the plane, dressed in a beige cardigan and dark skirt, with a small unobtrusive handbag hanging from her shoulder. Passing rows of families, business men, and screaming children, she slithered into the seat she had been assigned.<p>

Beside her, an older man in his late sixties shifted to look at her, and she returned the gaze, face beaming. "It's been a while, Dad." The bioengineer said, placing her handbag underneath her seat.

"Far too long." The man beside her replied, giving his own small smile. "I wanted to get in touch with you after Shinji's birthday, but I was bogged down with work. You understand, of course."

"Oh, absolutely." Yui held up a hand in supplication. "You don't need to apologise at all - you're a busy man."

To Ichiro Ikari, that seemed like a very weak euphemism.

"And you're a busy woman. How's the family?" Her father turned in his seat, trying to get into a more comfortable position.

"Oh, it's been fantastic. Shinji's so smart for his age – I'm considering enrolling him in one of those premium nurseries, like you did with me." As the woman spoke, her expression glowing with love for her son, Ichiro found himself feeling in his pocket for the familiar shape of a small book, one that he had carried with him for the past several decades.

"If the Ikari family can have another genius in the next generation, we'll consider ourselves twice blessed." Ichiro said, his warm, paternal smile managing to disguise the apprehension that was rising as the plane moved onto the runway.

* * *

><p><em>Now.<em>

* * *

><p>Pulling back from his mother, sniffing and scrubbing at his cheeks with his hands, Shinji looked up and smiled – before his eyes widened.<p>

"Oh, crap! I'm so sorry - the LCL, I didn't – I forgot –"

Shinji's inelegant stuttering was brought to a halt as his mother held a hand up.

"It's quite alright, Shinji." Yui said, as she gently pulled at the hem of her shirt, which was now decorated with a Shinji-shaped print of sticky, orange liquid. "Although…I had forgotten about the smell." She wrinkled her nose, before grinning at her son.

Placing a hand on his shoulder, she turned him to face his father before she did the same.

"Now – you were going to show me the rest of Project E?" Yui asked, quirking one eyebrow. "Like you said – I am eager to see."

Gendo nodded, and after a moment's hesitation, stepped beside his wife. Taking the initiative, she grabbed his hand, intertwining his fingers with hers, and as the small group navigated the corridors ahead, the many personnel of NERV were treated to a truly bizarre sight – the usually stony-faced Commander Ikari walking hand in hand with a woman who had come back from the dead, both beaming, whilst their son remained at their side, sporting a face-splitting grin of his own.

* * *

><p>"Alright, you four – front and centre."<p>

Naoko Akagi's firm, icy tone brought the members of the losing team into the Pribnow Box, after they had loitered at the door for as long as they could.

Words could not describe how unpleasant the woman could get when performance in the EVAs dipped below a certain standard – and if there was one thing that could be said about this woman, it would be that she set harsh standards.

Mana, Hikari, Mari and Kaworu walked into the centre of the control booth, and waited for the woman working at the central computer to turn and face them. She remained looking at her monitor for an agonising ten seconds, before she finally swivelled around in her chair.

The years had not been kind to the woman – her otherwise shining brown bob was liberally streaked with white, and her face was lined by the pressures of stress, age and a less than ideal lifestyle. Nonetheless, her fierce grey gaze was still enough to keep two out of four children in militaristically straight posture, their expressions tightly controlled.

Mari, on the other hand, kept a lazy, satisfied smirk on her face, one hand resting on her hips, whilst Kaworu simply crossed his arms, staring ahead with an airy expression.

"Do you know how long you lasted before you were eliminated, Mana?" Naoko finally spoke, grinding out the words. In front of her, the green-plugsuited girl squirmed slightly, nervously reaching up to tug at a lock of her auburn hair.

"I – I can't offer an exact estimate, Ma'am. I tend to focus on the mission at hand." The girl finally replied, and the scientist in front of her snorted, standing up with her hands in the pockets of her lab coat. She took three steps towards Mana, and every step punctuated a word.

_"Thirty – three – seconds."_

The girl swallowed, then tried not to back up on instinct as Naoko suddenly closed in on her, gaze murderous.

"Did those _ten-hour sessions_ in the simulation bodies teach you anything at all? Other than how to shield your comrades from gunfire with your own body?" She spat, teeth clenched. "If this keeps up, Kirashima, I'll have you removed. I might as well have hired that Aida boy, for all the good it would have done me –"

At that moment, said Aida boy came through the door, balancing a paper cup of coffee on top of a large stack of paperwork. He was a freckled, light-haired boy, with large glasses and a gentle air about him. Dressed in the khaki colours of NERV's operations personnel, he stumbled slightly under the weight of his cargo, and moved towards the Akagi woman.

"Late again, Aida?" Naoko muttered, snatching the cup of coffee from the top of the stack. She brought it to her lips, and her nose wrinkled in disgust, before she slammed it down on a nearby desk. Some of the cold coffee sloshed onto the desk and her fingers, and, like she had advanced on Mana, she approached Kensuke Aida like a lion stalking towards a wounded, defenceless, bifocal-wearing zebra.

"That coffee is cold. And these papers –"The doctor snatched a few of the sheets from the pile to punctuate, "aren't for the Project-E department."

Kensuke quailed under the woman's intense scrutiny, and stole a pleading glance towards the four pilots behind her, who had sympathetic expressions on their faces.

"They're for tactical. Now – get out of my sight!" Naoko hissed, and turned on her heel, striding back towards her computer. Before she sat down, she turned to the pilots, and blind rage flashed through her eyes.

"What are you waiting for? I don't have time to dress down every single one of you! Get back into your plugs! _Now!_"

Almost instantly, all four of the pilots powerwalked towards the door at the other end of the room, which led back to the simulation bodies. Meanwhile, Kensuke turned to leave as well, and as he walked towards the door he had used, papers hefted high in front of his face, he bumped into someone, letting out a small noise of disappointment as some of the paperwork fell to the floor.

"Sorry, kid." Ryouji Kaji murmured, stepping past the fretting boy to walk into the Pribnow Box.

"Sending the troops out again? You know, when the Angels do come, the kids might not have any juice left in the tank." Kaji observed, his tone slightly acidic. He was a reasonably tall man, clean shaven, with a carefully maintained military buzzcut, and dressed in the dark uniform of NERV's higher ranks.

"Shut it, grunt." Naoko growled, not facing away from her chair. "Do I tell you how to load guns?"

"No." Kaji conceded. "But I know a thing or two about keeping a weapon in working condition." The man watched through a window as the four children strode down a walkway, and prepared to be loaded into the Simulation Bodies. "Overuse without maintenance is a surefire way to put one out of commission early, I'll tell you that for free."

"I appreciate the advice." The doctor responded, tone dry with vicious sarcasm, and then turned in her chair to face the man. "Now, if you would be so kind, please –"

"Please what?" Gendo Ikari asked, striding into the room and leading someone behind him – _by the hand_, Naoko realised.

"Nothing, sir. I –" The doctor drifted off as she realised whose hand the Commander was holding, eyes widening and jaw clenching.

_You! But how – __**how?**_

Naoko stared in poorly disguised horror as Yui Ikari gazed around the Pribnow Box, a content smile on her face. Her mouth opened for a few moments, as if she was going to speak, but no words came out. Gendo watched, eyes narrowed behind his glasses, then looked elsewhere.

"Yui." He said, gently squeezing his wife's hand, and Naoko fought the urge to scream in outrage.

"Yes?" The woman replied, brushing her brown bangs out of her eyes and looking to him with inquisitive eyes.

"This is Major Ryouji Kaji, Head of Tactical Operations. He's also in charge of the Pilot's physical training. Major Kaji – this is my wife, Yui."

The Major turned towards Yui with a blank expression, save for a tight smile. "Of course. I heard about it this morning – the woman who came back from the dead. A pleasure to meet the _de facto _mother of EVA. You've made an incredible weapon." He spoke, and even his voice seemed to reek of the military – each word enunciated with pinpoint accuracy, tone constantly maintained.

He bowed, and Yui returned it, before speaking.

"I prefer to think of EVA as a step forward for humanity, as well as a defence system. But I appreciate it." She replied, and to her side, Gendo stepped forward once more.

"You already know Naoko, of course." The Commander said, indicating the doctor with a motion of his hand – either failing to notice or simply ignoring how the woman in question shot Yui a deadly glare – "But I believe that there is one person you have left to meet. _Rei_."

Light shimmered in the centre of the Pribnow Box, and took form. Within seconds, a meticulously detailed hologram formed, taking the shape of a girl no older than sixteen, dressed in a white plugsuit with alabaster skin, blood-red eyes, and a mop of unnatural blue hair. Yui stepped back slightly in surprise as the image formed, and let out a small gasp as it turned its head to face her.

"Naoko – if you would?" Gendo inquired, and the Akagi woman ground her teeth, before rising to her feet and speaking, beginning to circle around the image of the girl. Every other word was strained, and as she spoke, Naoko knew the Commander was enjoying this.

_Bastard._

"R.E.I. stands for Reactive-Empathetic-Intelligence. She is an artificially created intellect, but fully sentient – and she is the proxy that allows for all eight of our Evangelions to be controlled. All NERV installations that maintain EVAs use a similar program."

Naoko narrowed her eyes as she stood behind Gendo, glaring right through Rei.

"Rei also controls all of Tokyo-3. Its traffic control, its utilities, its defensive capabilities – everything. But make no mistake - NERV is the one in command. She cannot disobey an order from the Commander or anyone of sufficient rank."

"Astounding." Yui murmured, stepping forward, and Rei mirrored the action, the two gazing at each other.

"**Doctor Ikari. It is a pleasure to meet you." **Rei spoke, her artificial voice carrying a strange modulation.

"The pleasure is mine, Rei." The Ikari woman replied, smiling.

"We…based the program off of –my- MAGI supercomputer prototype." The words almost appeared to hurt Naoko as she spoke them.

"Ah – I remember you laying out the plans for those modules in 2003." Yui replied, absentmindedly, before another squeeze of her hand from Gendo drew her attention.

"There's a car outside waiting for us – to take us back to the house." He murmured, and she nodded, before turning back to the occupants of the Pribnow box.

"Very nice to meet all of you. Naoko." Yui nodded towards the woman, who replied with a similiarly curt gesture.

* * *

><p>"Things have certainly changed." Yui mused, as she walked into the car park of NERV, flanked by Gendo and Shinji. She hesitated, before speaking. "Is it just me, or did Naoko not look so happy to see me?" The woman asked, glancing at her husband.<p>

"Naoko has always managed to get the job done – but her attitude has worsened over the years. She keeps her daughter working in the Medical Wing, though, so we don't have a replacement on hand." Gendo supplied, before indicating what appeared to be a limousine up ahead.

It was the first in a row of seven, and Yui's eyes widened slightly. "All the Pilots have their own car and driver." Shinji spoke, his first time speaking since his reunion with his mother.

"Oh – wait. There are eight pilots, but only seven cars." Yui observed, furrowing her brow. "Any reason?"

"The Seventh Child has his own driver – his guardian." Gendo answered, and, almost as if on cue, his wife noticed that just to the left of the row of limos, there was a fairly nondescript black car, with tinted windows.

A man leaned against the driver's side door – obviously a westerner from his features. He dressed casually – jeans, boots, and a brown leather jacket. He didn't seem to be any more than twenty-five, but the strange shock of grey running through his otherwise jet black hair cast doubt on that analysis.

The man's icy blue eyes locked onto Yui's almost instantly, and for a moment, the two stared at each other, until the sound of activity from behind her caught his attention.

Behind Shinji and his parents, Damian strode out, changed into a white button-up shirt and black slacks.

"Shinji – Commander." Damian nodded stiffly, and headed for the black car, the man beside it opening up the driver's side. The group watched as the boy got into the car, which sped off with a squeal of tires. Yui narrowed her eyes, watching as the car disappeared into the exit tunnel.

_There's something off about those two._

"Anyway – shall we?" Yui chirped, walking ahead of her son and husband towards the first limo, the only one with a present driver.

* * *

><p><em>Ten years ago.<em>

* * *

><p>For what seemed like the hundredth time, the plane shook as fierce winds struggled to stop it from gliding smoothly through the air. Despite the fact that the turbulence had ruined her very expensive cardigan by hurling her glass of wine at it, and the multitude of infants around the plane seemed to have synchronised into one glorious screaming chorus, Yui kept a placid expression on her face, even though her father didn't.<p>

"Dad, you should relax. It's just a little turbulence. And besides – this is hardly your first trip by air." Yui said.

"I am relaxed." Her father replied, shifting in his seat.

"Yet you're still on edge." Yui furrowed her brow, leaning across slightly towards him. "What's wrong? Is it something to do with…work?"

"You – you could say that, yes." Ichiro replied, his hand slipping back inside his pocket.

There was a fierce crack of lightning, and thunder that was frighteningly loud and close.

"That's quite the storm…" Yui murmured, shifting in her seat to peer out the rain-streaked window. Beside her, her father slipped something out of his pocket – a small, leather-bound book, the corners dog-eared with age.

"Yui." Ichiro said, nearly inaudible. His daughter turned, glanced at her father, and then followed his gaze down to the book he held. On the cover, was an embossed emblem – similar to an upside-down triangle, with a row of three eyes on its left side, and four on its right.

"Dad…" Yui whispered, eyes widening. "Why do you have _that_ with you now?" Her father absentmindedly leafed through the book, and she could see that nearly every page was covered with text or drawings. Ichiro sighed, a long, heavy sigh that he felt in his bones, and then he spoke.

"I have something to tell you, Yui. And I _need_ you to listen –"

Suddenly, there was a flare of yellow from outside, a deafening bang, and the plane lurched violently, beginning to plummet down towards the ocean below. The captain's voice came over the intercom, panicked, warning his passengers to brace. As the passenger cabin was filled with shrill screams and yells, Yui ducked down with her father.

_Shinji - _

Smoke trailing from where the left wing had been blasted off, the plane hurtled towards the water, and impacted inelegantly, the fuselage crumpling and contorting as the force of the crash landing began to pull the aircraft apart.

* * *

><p><em>Now.<em>

* * *

><p>Shinji watched, swallowing in apprehension as his father tried to rouse his mother from whatever distressed dream she was currently experiencing. She had dropped off a few minutes after the car had pulled out of the Geofront's transit track, and moments later, had begun to whimper and shift around in her seat, face twisting with fear and worry.<p>

"Yui." Gendo's voice was low, but agitated – he was afraid. "Yui!"

He shook his wife's shoulder firmly, and suddenly, she awoke, grabbing him by the neck and pushing herself onto him with a cry. Her elbow rose up, and then descended, but instead of impacting his face, it was stopped halfway down by Shinji, who had leapt across the inside of the limo and stopped the attack.

"Mom!" The boy called, fear flashing across his features.

As if suddenly lucid, Yui realised her position, and then shuffled back like a terrified child, against her side of the limo. She clutched her knees, looking between her son and husband, the latter of whom was rubbing his neck and breathing heavily.

"I'm sorry." The woman gasped out, her voice wavering. "I'm so sorry, Gendo –"

"It's alright, Yui..." The man replied, moving across the seats towards her. He reached out, and rested his hand on his wife's thigh, his voice tender. "It's alright now. You're home."

Yui bit her lip, glancing down at the hand, as Gendo repeated himself.

"You're home."

Slowly, her hand slid across his, seeking warmth and comfort, and the woman immediately turned her gaze to the window, unable to meet the shocked eyes of her son.

* * *

><p><strong>As you can imagine, since this is an Arrow crossover, there will be a heavy flashback component. Things will get ugly, to say the least. But as you can see, things are already getting pretty heavy - and no one's gotten an arrow in them yet.<strong>

**I've been wondering - one of my reviewers said something when I posted one of the earlier chapters of Senshi no Michi, that he wasn't a fan of the short chapter length. I've been wondering that it might benefit both me and you, and increase the review count of both my stories, if I switched from a four-part episode structure of approximately 2500 words a chapter, to a single part structure with 10000 words approximately. Please let me know what you, as a reader, prefer.**

**As always, read and review!**


	4. Episode 1 - The Return - Part 4

_Evangelion is property of Studio Khara and GAINAX._

_Green Arrow and Arrow are property of DC Comics and the CW._

* * *

><p><strong><em>NEON GENESIS EVANGELION: YAJIRUSHI NO SENTAN<em>**

* * *

><p>Slowly, mournfully, the car made its way into to the most remote suburbs just outside of the main city. Yui hadn't spoken a word since the incident ten minutes ago, but had moved closer to her husband, who kept a reassuring hand on her leg.<p>

Across from the two, Shinji tried to avoid staring, but his mind still dwelled on the issue.

_What the hell happened to Mom on that island? She just tried to attack Dad…she must have been scared out of her mind when he woke her up…_

"There's another car here."

His father's voice brought him out of his contemplation, and Shinji glanced out of one of the windows to see a limousine parked in the driveway beside his house.

The house itself wasn't obscenely large – but it was of considerable size, and resided in a quiet, green neighbourhood – evidence enough that it was one of the most expensive properties in Tokyo-3.

"It's Asuka's car." Shinji murmured, squinting to examine the license plate. "She and her mother must have come over."

Finally, across from him, Yui perked up, her expression beginning to lighten once again.

"Kyoko's here?" She asked, voice somewhat hoarse. Gendo nodded, and looked ahead as the driver wheeled the car in behind the other limo. As the engine died, Yui let out a breath, then reached to undo her seatbelt, before shuffling away from her husband and towards the passenger side door.

Once the driver had opened it, Yui stepped out onto the smooth, clean driveway, and made a beeline for the front door of the house. Behind her, Shinji and Gendo stepped out, both watching her with wary eyes.

"Shinji." Gendo began, still looking ahead at his wife. "Be careful around your mother. Whatever she has gone through – she's brought some of it back with her."

The boy didn't respond until his mother had disappeared through the front door, and then nodded.

"Okay, Dad."

* * *

><p>"I'm home." Yui whispered, stepping into the main hall of the house. Instinctively, she removed her hospital slippers, leaving them near the doorway, and padded across smooth wooden floors barefoot. She gazed around the expanse of the hall, taking in the size and décor.<p>

_I guess being Commander of a UN-backed paramilitary pays better than expected._

"Ten years on an island in the middle of nowhere, and you come out with a body like some Olympian sculpture. Ten years at NERV with a fat paycheck, medical and dental and I come out with crow's feet and a grey streak."

"Where's the justice?" Yui replied, lips curling into a smile at the sound of the familiar snark. She turned around, and faced the new arrival.

Kyoko Zeppelin Sohryu was a tall woman – little curve, mostly hard angles. Long blonde hair was tied back into a single ponytail, and high, elegant features were twisted into a grin. Deep blue eyes, dulled slightly with age, shone with recognition and mirth. The woman wore the dark uniform of NERV's upper ranks, the blazer and cuffs left unbuttoned.

"I told you – never fly Economy class." Kyoko smirked, and then walked towards Yui with her arms wide open. The other woman practically ran into her arms, letting out a short, high laugh.

"Last time I ignore your valuable advice." Yui chuckled, pulling back and gazing at her best friend. "It's so good to see you again."

"Likewise." Kyoko replied, her incorrigible grin softening. "When I heard that you were alive…I might have started crying on the bridge."

"Oh dear." The other woman held a hand over her mouth in mock horror. "Ice-Cold Koyko Sohryu showing a glimmer of emotion? Truly, hell has frozen over. No one saw you, did they?"

"Even if they did, they'd have kept their mouth shut. The position of Vice-Commander comes with some perks." The blonde chuckled, then glanced over Yui's shoulder, watching as Gendo and Shinji walked into the front hall.

"Kyoko." Gendo nodded.

"Gendo."

Kyoko turned to face her friend, then sighed. "We can talk some other time – maybe when you get back to Project E, we can catch up."

Yui opened her mouth to reply, but hesitated. Gendo narrowed his eyes in response, stepping to the side.

"Yui?" He questioned.

"Actually…I'm not planning on returning to the Project any time soon." Yui replied, slowly. Across from her, Kyoko's eyes widened momentarily, before she turned to Shinji, who remained behind his father.

"Shinji, Asuka's in the lounge. Maybe you two can talk about the simulation today? Heard you won."

With a small nod and bow, Shinji disappeared from the main hall, into one of the adjoining rooms. Kyoko then rounded on her friend, as Gendo stood to the side, watching them both.

"There's nowhere else to go but back to the Project, Yui. I realise you've been through something terrible, but –"

Yui cut off her friend sharply, her voice firm, but slow and placating.

"I've been cut off from civilisation for ten years, Kyoko. Technology has come forward in leaps and bounds – for God's sake, there's a _sentient computer_ running the city and controlling the EVAs – which have been overhauled as well! You can't expect me to just walk back in –"

"_Bullshit_, Yui. It'd take you all of a month to get the gist of things, and that's at your worst – you're lying." Kyoko replied, bristling.

"Fine." The brunette gasped, running a hand through her mop of hair. "You want the truth?"

Yui turned to Gendo, and bit her lip before speaking. "I was on that island for what felt like forever – and I had no one. More importantly – I didn't have you, Gendo, I didn't have Shinji, and I didn't have you," she swivelled and pointed towards her friend. "Kyoko. I had no one. After ten years, there are three things I want to do with my time. I want to be a wife," she glanced at Gendo, "I want to be a mother," she indicated the lounge, Shinji and Asuka's voices sounding from within, "and I want to be a woman."

"I see." Kyoko murmured, chewing her lip contemplatively. "I'm – sorry, Yui. I jumped to conclusions."

"Don't worry about it." The other woman replied, voice quiet. At that moment, Gendo finally spoke up.

"There are some matters at NERV that I need to attend to before the night finishes." He said, matter-of-fact, and then stepped forward to embrace his wife.

"Gendo?" Yui murmured, before he drew her in for a tender kiss. When their lips parted, he leaned in, whispering into her ear.

"You only needed to say. Stay – talk with Kyoko. See our son. I'll be home around midnight."

Blinking, Yui watched as Gendo pulled away, and walked towards the door. With one final look back at her, he closed the door behind him.

"Well – that was weird. I haven't seen him so mellow in a long time. Let's hope that's a long-term change." Kyoko smirked, coming up behind her and squeezing her shoulder. "Now – as your husband says – let's go stare at our kids for a bit."

Inhaling and exhaling smoothly, Yui turned around and smiled. "Sounds like a plan."

The two walked quietly towards the lounge, the sound of the two children's voices growing louder as they approached.

"Tell me something about Shinji, Kyoko." Yui asked, as she rounded on the entrance to the longue.

"Well…" Kyoko began, as she moved beside the other women. "I can tell you right off the bat that he's quiet – an introvert, if you let him be – but with the right approach, it's not difficult to bring him out of his shell."

Inside of the lounge, Asuka shrieked as Shinji tossed a cushion towards her, and ran towards him, tackling the boy onto the couch. The two wrestled playfully, breaking apart again and circling each other around the couch.

"He and Asuka seem to get along well." Yui observed, crossing her arms.

Shinji let out a surprised yelp as the redhead in front of him leapt across the couch, and dived out of the way, a breathless laugh escaping him as he tried to dash away. Asuka grabbed him by the waist, and with deceptive strength, forced him back onto the couch. Momentum carried him, and the girl over, and the two tumbled down onto the floor with squeals and grunts.

"And you're wondering how well?" Kyoko probed, looking at her friend with narrowed eyes, before she looked back to the scene inside the lounge. "Well – as far as I can tell…there's something there. Something that could get bigger with time. But…no, nevermind."

"What?"

Kyoko breathed, before speaking again. "I only noticed after Asuka came home one night with a necklace that was far, far too expensive for her to afford, even on a pilot's salary. Someone's been leaving her gifts inside her locker – jewellery, makeup, all very costly presents."

"Shinji?" Yui questioned, with a raised eyebrow.

"Oh, no. Definitely not." The blonde shook her head. "But it is one of the pilots, I know that much."

"Is that all?" Yui wondered, watching as the two children continued to playfight, Shinji mock-strangling Asuka, who threw her head back, tongue lolling out in false breathlessness.

"No, that's not all." Kyoko murmured, as Asuka and Shinji fell back on the couch with errant giggles escaping them.

"Hm?"

"I think it's a girl." The doctor mused.

* * *

><p>"Hmm. So many choices, so little time."<p>

Licking her thumb, Mari began to flick through one of many jeweler's brochures, the rest discarded to the floor of her apartment. Aside from a bed, a rather large wardrobe, table and mirror, and various pieces of fitness equipment scattered around the room, the apartment was sparsely decorated.

"Ah. There we are." The girl tapped her fingernail on the image of a golden cord necklace, listed at a price of two-hundred thousand yen. "Princess hates diamonds. For some strange reason." Mari mused, and then flipped back to the front of the brochure, to check the business' name and address. Kicking her bare feet in the air, she remembered a previous excursion two months ago.

"Oh, you? You haven't upgraded your security in months, you silly boys." She let a devious smile play across her features, and then sprang up from the bed, striding across to her wardrobe in a tanktop and underwear.

Opening the wardrobe slowly, the girl pushed aside rows of beautiful dresses and outfits, to reveal a large, wooden box at the bottom. Kneeling down, she opened it, revealing dark, formfitting clothing, a set of silver-rimmed goggles, a black cowl with two triangular ears, one on either side, and beneath it all, a long, corded whip.

Withdrawing the goggles, Mari hung them around her neck, before dipping back down to grab the whip. She breathed, and then stepped back towards the bed.

Grabbing the brochure she had just leafed through, and tossing it into the air, she snapped out the whip to its full length, and lashed out. With a fierce crack, the whip split both the air and the brochure, a burst of coloured paper scraps raining down onto her bed.

In the midst of it all, her cat meowed, and Mari gave a toothy grin.

"You can say that again."

* * *

><p>After Kyoko and Asuka had left, well into the night, Yui climbed the stairs of her cavernous house. Truth be told, she always pictured herself settling down with Gendo and Shinji into a small, quaint little apartment one day.<p>

_But this works too. At least there's always a bathroom handy._

Stepping onto the landing, the woman paused, and then called out for her son.

"Shinji?"

"In here, Mom." The voice came from a doorway down the hall, and Yui padded towards it.

Her son's room, somehow, seemed to be just how she had always imagined it would be – not too tidy, not too messy, with a neatly packed schoolbag in one corner, and one wall filled with various posters.

One in particular drew her attention, and she stepped into the room to take a better look at it. It wasn't bombastic – rather, it was of simple design, with a blue background, and a yellow shield, on which a stylised Western letter 'S' was emblazoned in red. Above and below the design, Japanese text read _'Superman Lives!'._

"Hey, Mom."

At the sound of Shinji's voice, she turned around. He was still dressed, but appeared a little more fatigued than he had been when she had last seen him.

"Hello, my boy." Yui walked over, and embraced her son. "I'm having a hard time coming to terms with how big you've gotten! You were such a tiny tot when you were four. All chubby cheeks and toothy smiles." She gave a wide, loving smile, and Shinji blushed slightly, before replying.

"I'm having a hard time coming to grips with how big you've gotten, too." The boy indicated her strong arms, and prominent shoulders, now visible that she was no longer wearing a coat. Yui chuckled, giving one arm a flex.

"Mom?"

"Yes, sweetheart?"

"…How did you survive there?" Shinji asked, hesitantly, watching as his mother stopped dead in response to the question. For several agonising moments, there was nothing, but then she spoke, voice clear as the summer night sky outside.

"You, Shinji. You kept me alive." She replied, with a tender expression on her face. "Every hungry night, every cold, biting wind – it was nothing. Because I knew I had to survive it. For my son. My Shinji." Reaching out, she hugged Shinji again, and let out a breath as he returned it.

"Shinji."

"Yes, Mom?"

"Why did you put that poster up?" Yui asked, indicating the poster that had drawn her attention.

"Oh – that?" Shinji scratched the back of his head, cheeks reddening. "I actually just put that up. Everyone knows that Superman vanished a month before Second Impact, right?"

Yui nodded.

"Well – I figure that after you came back, anything's possible." Shinji said, with a small smile on his face. "I'm willing to hope, even if that hope is empty."

"I see." His mother responded, slowly. "Shinji, can you do me a favour?"

"Yeah – what is it?" The boy asked, curious.

"Whatever you do – whatever happens to you – never let go of that hope, of any hope. Because it'll get you through anything." Yui murmured, reaching out and squeezing his shoulders affectionately.

"Okay." Shinji said, a little bemused, and she smiled, leaning in and kissing his forehead.

"I don't know about you, but I need to get to bed. See you tomorrow, sweetheart." Yui whispered, and pulled back, walking out of the room.

"Night, Mom." Shinji's voice stayed with Yui as she moved into the room she had learned was to be shared by her and Gendo – and as she locked the door behind her, the woman's expression became tight, controlled.

_What I told Shinji was only a half truth._

_What I told Gendo was only a half truth._

_There was something else keeping me alive on the island – an obligation._

_A promise – to my father._

Walking over to one side of the bed, Yui knelt down, and reached under. With a firm tug, she pulled out the heavy wooden crate she had taken with her from the island, and then reached into her pocket.

Withdrawing a small key, she unlocked the small lock keeping the crate sealed, and pushed the lid off. Inside, the outline of her bow was visible, covered by a brown cloth. Lying in the middle of the outline was a small, leatherbound book – and on the cover, the seven-eyed mask of SEELE stared out at her, embossed into the leather.

Yui picked up the book, and gazed at the cover, eyes narrowing as she remembered.

* * *

><p><em>Ten years ago.<em>

* * *

><p>Choking as saltwater threatened to spill into her lungs, Yui struggled to keep herself, and her father, who she had pressed to her, afloat. Around them, fire raged, burning on the jet fuel that had settled on the water from the crash. Hair plastered to her face, she struggled to see in the pitch black night-time, the fire around her the only illumination.<p>

"Dad." Yui gasped, barely able to shake him in the fierce current of the water. "Dad!"

The old man stirred, and looked up at his daughter with tired eyes.

"Yui…my daughter."

Slowly, he held up the dripping book he had clutched all the way through the crash, and showed it to Yui's face.

"Yui, we were wrong. All of it was wrong, a mistake."

Spitting out a fresh mouthful of saltwater, the woman struggled to formulate a reply in the chaos.

"What – what do you mean, Dad?"

"All of it. Second Impact, SEELE – it should never have happened. We should never have –" In the midst of speaking, the man retched, dark red spilling out of his mouth and into the black water at his chest.

"Oh, no – Dad!" Yui screamed, but was pushed away as she attempted to hold him closer.

"_Yui." _Ichiro growled, through the pain. "Take the book. It's everything – everything on SEELE. Please – right my wrongs. Right _our_ wrongs." More thin streams of red began to spill out of his mouth, and across from him, Yui began to weep, barely discernible in the pouring rain.

"Yui. Look at me." He said, struggling to keep his voice clear, as he reached out and forced the book into his daughter's hands. "Whatever you do, whatever happens –"

"Dad, no –" Yui sobbed, clutching the book tightly to her bosom.

"Promise me you'll survive. Promise me."

"I can't let you die here!" The woman screamed.

"_Survive." _Ichiro Ikari implored, and then disappeared beneath the waves to the sound of his daughter's cries.

* * *

><p><em>Now.<em>

* * *

><p>Setting the book aside, Yui removed the brown blanket covering the bow, and withdrew it, hefting it in one hand.<p>

_My enemy is massive - impossible to track by any normal means. Impossible to destroy, to defeat, as Yui Ikari._

_But I must be someone else – something else, to achieve what my father desired of me._

_Precise._

* * *

><p>Leaning back against the table of his massive, sprawling office in a rare moment of poor posture, Gendo took small, measured sips of brandy from a crystal glass, staring out at the Geofront beyond his office window.<p>

To his right, there was the smallest sound of activity, and he turned, calmly placing the glass on his desk as he faced the new arrival.

The low light from outside the window barely illuminated them – dressed in all black clothing, with a hood and full facemask – as well as a quiver of arrows slung across their back, and a powerful compound bow held in one hand, the stranger was an intimidating image to most.

But Gendo Ikari had never been, never would be 'most'.

"Yui's return changes nothing." The Commander spoke, gazing at the masked figure. "The Scenario proceeds as expected." He turned back to his desk, to retrieve his brandy.

"Go about your work." Gendo said, as he hefted the glass to his lips once more.

There was the briefest sound of shoes scuffing against the polished floor of his office, and when he turned around, he was alone again.

* * *

><p><strong>First half of double update. Things are getting interesting already. <strong>

**So, that wraps up the first episode of Yajirushi no Sentan. Hopefully you've enjoyed it so far, and will stick with it as it goes on. I'd also encourage you to check out Senshi no Michi, my Evangelion/Street Fighter crossover.**

**For those of you who are interested, I am considering one more EVA crossover, to wrap up what I call 'The Traffic Light Trilogy', this being green, Senshi no Michi being red, and the third being yellow. All I can say at the moment is that whilst I have made Senshi no Michi the basic crossover, where the EVA timeline crosses over normally at the beginning of the series, and Yajirushi no Sentan is a 'For want of a Nail' AU, this final crossover would take place post-EOE.**

**Please, read and review. I can't give you what you want if you don't tell me ;)**


	5. Interlude 01 - Evening News

_Evangelion is property of Studio Khara and GAINAX._

_Green Arrow and Arrow are property of DC Comics and the CW._

* * *

><p><strong><em>NEON GENESIS EVANGELION: YAJIRUSHI NO SENTAN<em>**

* * *

><p>"<strong>I'm Hideki Anno, and this is the ten o'clock news."<strong>

"**Head researcher and scientist at STAR Labs Tokyo-3, Doctor Harrison Wells, defended the highly publicised activation of his revolutionary particle accelerator, which is set to take place tomorrow night. The experiment has come under fire from many concerned citizens and councils, who maintain that with NERV's 'unorthodox' presence in the region, they do not need any more strange occurrences. **

"**Wells was quoted as saying that his experiment was perfectly benign – indeed, it has been financially backed by NERV, who are in talks with STAR Labs to share the technological advances that come about as a result of tomorrow night's experiment."**

"**He maintains that the only aim of this experiment is to 'bring the future to the present' and advance technology, be it medical, scientific, or otherwise, and that the severe storm clouds forecasted for tomorrow will have little to no effect on the results of the experiment."**

"…**This just in. There has been another burglary in downtown Tokyo-3. Witnesses report seeing a figure leaving the scene across several rooftops. Whether or not this is the so-called 'Tokyo Cat' remains to be seen, but the burglarized establishment has lost one of its most expensive necklaces…"**

* * *

><p><strong>Second half of double update.<strong>


	6. Episode 2 - Blackout - Part 1

_Evangelion is property of Studio Khara and GAINAX._

_Green Arrow and Arrow are property of DC Comics and the CW._

* * *

><p><strong><em>NEON GENESIS EVANGELION: YAJIRUSHI NO SENTAN<em>**

* * *

><p>As the sun began to rise over Tokyo-3, Yui Ikari stalked across a deserted street, dressed in a baggy hooded sweatshirt and trackpants, with two extremely large and heavy duffel bags, one slung across each shoulder. She'd left early – at five AM, only a few hours after Gendo had come back to the house.<p>

Under normal circumstances, she would have been happy to remain in bed – she had some catching up to do with her husband. But Gendo had been tired, and tired meant easily cowed, and easily cowed meant she could get this done without many questions asked, or risked.

_I noticed it when we were riding back from NERV yesterday – an old smelting plant that's existed since I was a college student. It's defunct, now, abandoned – but it's large, and it has a strong foundation._

_Once the Angels arrive, I can't be sure that it won't be destroyed – so I'll see what I can do about establishing multiple hideouts._

Across from Yui, hiding behind a wire fence, was the old Lexcorp smelting plant. It wasn't all cooling towers and piping – rather, the design reeked of so-called 'modernity' with towering spires and angular sides.

Tossing the bags over the fence with ease, she glanced around the street for a moment, and then broke into a run. Leaping up, her hands caught the railing at the top of the fence, and she pulled, and then pushed herself up. When combined with her forwards momentum, it was easy to bring her legs up behind her, upend herself, flipping over the fence and landing gracefully on the other side.

Bending down again to pick her bags up and sling them over her shoulders, she made her way for the entrance of the smelting plant.

_And once I get started, I'll need an alibi. I can only wind Gendo around my little finger for so long before he realises something's up. But love will blind him for the next month or so, at least. A little cold on my part, but ultimately necessary._

Yui stepped into the darkened expanse of the plant, gazing around. Light filtering in from various windows, left to break, and illuminated her surroundings. After several seconds spent examining the interior of the main atrium, the woman headed towards an iron staircase leading to a lower level.

_I can build it up, reinforce it as time passes – for now, it'll be somewhat barebones. Only the necessities._

Moving down onto the lower floor, Yui reached out, searching for a light switch near the door. She found it, fingers wrapping around a stiff lever. With a firm push, it slid down, and several lights across the sprawling complex flickered into life. It was obvious that this plant hadn't been maintained in ages – water trickled from leaking pipes, grime covered nearly every surface.

Setting her bags down, she looked around, then nodded to herself.

_Alright. Let's get to work._

* * *

><p><em>The book my father gave me contains everything anyone could ever want to know about SEELE – a complete list of all involved, their positions and functions, as well as their power structures and procedures.<em>

_To begin with, I'll need to kill their eyes and ears transmitting back to the main council, before they can be informed that someone's out to get them. There are four such men in Tokyo-3 at the moment._

* * *

><p>With a cable slung over an overhead pipe, Yui lowered a palette of large crates down from the upper level.<p>

* * *

><p><em>I'll need to take them all out quickly, in the same night. That way, SEELE will suddenly lose contact without any warning or explanation.<em>

* * *

><p>Activating a portable generator stowed in the corner, she turned and watched as several lighting pylons she had set up lit up and burned brightly, around a freshly installed row of tables.<p>

* * *

><p><em>They will seem nondescript to any ordinary person – they masquerade as pencil-pushers, cubicle workers. Just a few more faceless among the masses.<em>

* * *

><p>Yui's fingers danced across a keyboard, linking a central computer with several boxy laptops and processing towers she had placed near her hub.<p>

* * *

><p><em>Matsuyo Higashikuni.<em>

* * *

><p>A motorised stone wheel span, set up on a table to the left, and Yui, wearing protective goggles, lowered one of many arrows to it. The metal of the arrowhead sparked as the stone sheared away any imperfections. Drawing the arrowhead back for inspection, she nodded in approval as the dark green metal's edges glowed white-hot, and then moved onto the next.<p>

* * *

><p><em>Tomoaki Inouye.<em>

* * *

><p>Sweatshirt removed, Yui hung from a bar, the muscles of her back and arms prominent now that she was wearing a simple tanktop. Kipping forward, she suddenly pulled herself up, upper torso passing the bar, and in a formidable feat of speed, control and exertion, pulled the bar up after her, and clamped it into another set of rungs a few inches higher. Sweat dripping off her forehead, she repeated the exercise until she was several meters off the ground.<p>

* * *

><p><em>Matashichi Shiba.<em>

* * *

><p>Gritting her teeth, Yui hung by her feet – lodged between two pipes – and crunched her torso to her abdomen repeatedly.<p>

* * *

><p><em>Naoki Nakata.<em>

* * *

><p>Wiping the sweat from her arms and forehead with the discarded sweatshirt, Yui threw it to the side, and then knelt down, bringing the crate containing her bow back up with her as she rose.<p>

Placing it on the table in front of her, she opened it, and removed her bow, gazing at it for a moment, before she headed towards another table to retrieve a quiver loaded with freshly sharpened arrows.

* * *

><p><em>I'll need to do recon on the buildings where they work, before I attempt anything at all.<em>

* * *

><p>Quiver slung over her back, Yui held her bow in one hand, and a bag of tennis balls in the other. Nonchalantly tossing the bag high over her shoulder, she span around, and in a smooth motion, drew an arrow back into her bow as the fuzzy green orbs spilled out of the bag in mid-air.<p>

She fired once, twice, six times – and when all was said and done, there were six tennis balls pinned to the wall in front of her, with one arrow a piece holding them there.

* * *

><p>Muscles aching from the morning's work, Yui moved back into the main hall of her home, unzipping her sweatshirt and looking around for any sign of activity.<p>

"Shinji? Gendo?"

"In here, Yui." Her husband replied, his voice coming from the lounge.

Stepping into the doorway of the lounge, she looked into the room, and saw her husband sitting across from her – as well as a woman with shoulder-length dark hair, pulled up into a high ponytail.

"Did you enjoy your run?" Gendo asked, his expression implacable.

Yui nodded, and moved into the lounge. "It was...productive." She replied.

On the couch, the other woman turned slightly, and she got a better look at the new arrival.

The woman was dressed casually – in a black jacket, shirt and jeans. Her deep brown eyes examined Yui carefully as she approached, sitting in a chair near Gendo.

"Yui – I'd like you to meet your plainclothes bodyguard –"

Yui's expression lowered slightly.

_A bodyguard? __**Crap.**_

"Misato Katsuragi."

* * *

><p>The meeting had went pleasantly enough – curt words were exchanged, and Yui learned something about her so-called bodyguard. She had served in the Japanese Self-Defence Force for some time following college, as well as the Tokyo-3 Police Department, before moving into private security.<p>

Katsuragi also happened to be the legal guardian of two NERV personnel – the Sixth Child, Mana Kirashima, and Kensuke Aida, the bespectacled boy Yui had spied when she had walked into the Pribnow Box the previous day.

Finally, Gendo had left the two of them to talk, as he left for the day's work at NERV. Letting out a breath, Yui crossed her legs, and looked across at the other woman. Silence reigned supreme for several moments, before she decided to make smalltalk.

"So…what do I call you?" Yui asked, tilting her head slightly.

"Misato's good. Last person to call me Miss Katsuragi was my college professor." The woman replied, her voice low.

"Married, Misato?"

"Divorced. Three years now." Misato's reply was curt, and might have carried the slightest hint of venom – Yui couldn't be sure.

"I see." She said, thinking her next step over.

_Might as well make the best of a bad situation._

"Misato, would you mind if we went into town? Just got a drink, talked for a bit?" Yui offered, and the woman across from her seemed to contemplate it for a moment, before replying.

_I can placate Katsuragi, and hopefully do some recon on the workplaces of my targets._

"I'd need to leave Kensuke and Mana back to the apartment before we did. I believe they're upstairs with a few of the other children."

"I'm sure they can stay here. The housing staff can take care of it, surely."

"In all honesty," Misato said, shifting on the couch slightly. "I'd prefer if they remained somewhere I know like the back of my hand. You understand, of course."

"Completely. I know what it's like to worry for your children." Yui said, and then watched as something in Misato's face changed, her expression hardening.

"I'll bring the car around, Mrs. Ikari. If you would, could you let Kensuke and Mana know that it's time to go?" The dark haired woman asked, before standing up and leaving the lounge without another word.

Watching her leave, Yui frowned – both at the woman's strange reaction to her words, and to the repercussions having a bodyguard forced on her would have on her plans.

_There's no use trying to convince Gendo that I don't need her – he won't risk the possibility that I could get hurt again._

Standing up, she decided to head upstairs and do as Misato had asked. As she moved out of the lounge, and towards the staircase, she looked up to see Shinji descending it, still in sleeping shorts and a loose shirt.

"Hey, sweetheart. Doing good?" Yui asked, smiling up at her son.

"Yeah." Shinji replied, with a tired grin. "We're just up in the game room –"

"We have a game room?" Yui replied, raising her eyebrows.

"Uh…yeah." The boy glanced around for a moment, before stepping down. Suddenly, Asuka's voice echoed around the house, as she bellowed _"Rules of Nature!" _at the top of her lungs.

Silently, the woman looked to her son for explanation, who gave a sheepish shrug and smile.

"Asuka gets very intense when she plays video games." He offered. "I'm just going to get something to eat – is there anything else you wanted to talk about?"

"No, go ahead." Yui replied, standing aside as he walked past her, disappearing into the kitchen just beyond the main hall.

Upstairs, raised voices sounded out, and she furrowed her brow, beginning to climb the steps in curiosity. Suddenly, a door burst open, and heavy, angry footsteps began to stalk across the wooden landing. Looking up, Yui recognised Kensuke Aida, the boy from the Pribnow Box. His gaze was directed to his feet as he walked down the stairs quickly, even as a girl with an unruly mop of brown hair moved after him, stopping at the upstairs landing.

"Kensuke! Toji was just kidding!" She called, expression and voice heavy with worry. _"Kensuke!"_

The boy moved past Yui without even acknowledging her, and she looked back up at the girl who had followed him, who remained silent, her face concerned.

"Mana?" Yui asked, narrowing her eyes slightly. The girl nodded shakily.

"Misato told me to tell you that she's going to leave you back to the apartment, soon. She's getting ready now."

"Okay – but I have to get Kensuke, first…" The girl said, beginning to walk down the stairs.

"Leave Kensuke to me." The woman replied, holding out a hand. "Go and finish up, say goodbye, alright?"

Mana nodded, biting her lip, and moved back across the landing into a nearby corridor.

* * *

><p>She found the Aida boy behind the house, gazing out at the expansive garden as he stood on the back porch.<p>

"Penny for your thoughts?"

The boy flinched, and then looked around, his eyes surprised.

"Excuse me?"

"It's an expression." Yui supplied, voice and expression easy. "Everything alright with you?"

In front of her, the boy blinked behind his glasses, clearly unsure of what to say. "I'm…I…" He struggled to speak, voice uneasy.

"Go on." She said, and moved to sit on a nearby bench, indicating the space beside her. "It helps to talk about things, more often than you think."

With hesitance, Kensuke approached, slowly sitting beside her.

"I don't see boys in that state very often, except when they're in a bad way. What's wrong?" Yui asked, voice warm and motherly. The boy faced her, meeting her gaze, before he looked down at his legs.

"You wouldn't believe me. You'd call me insane, or stupid, or –"

Before he could descend into some emotional tangent or rant, Yui gently interrupted him.

"I can't call you stupid if I don't know what you're talking about, you know…" She smiled, trying to keep Kensuke at ease. "Go on. Talk. I'll listen."

Beside her, the boy took a deep breath, and looked ahead, out at the garden.

"I was eleven." Kensuke said, voice quiet and weak. "It was a few weeks before Christmas."

Yui shifted in her seat, to get comfortable, gazing at the boy in interest, with a small amount of concern at the boy's desolate tone.

"One night…I woke up. Something had burst into our house. It was like this tornado – of lightning, red and yellow lightning. And somewhere inside this…thing, I saw a yellow blur. _A man."_

As Kensuke told his story, Yui's eyes narrowed.

"It was circling my Mom. Dad went to fight it, but it knocked him away like he was nothing. I tried to get to her, when suddenly – I was _twenty blocks_ away from our house. When I got back…my mother was dead. And they were hauling my father into a police cruiser. He got a life sentence for my Mom's murder."

"I'm sorry." She said, softly. Kensuke looked up at her, and then scrubbed at his eyes underneath his glasses.

"I tried to explain what had happened – but nobody believed me. They said I was crazy, or that I was trying to cover for my father. And I kept trying, but still, no one looked my way. Two years later, I tried to join the Evangelion program. I figured that if I was closest to where they were building the _giant robots_, I'd catch wind of something strange. And _just maybe_ find out something about what had happened."

"And?" Yui asked, expectantly.

"And…I failed. Washed out. My endurance was pathetic, my reaction times were below average. I was _too damn slow_ to pilot one of those things. But…Shinji was there, that same day. He saw me, and spoke to his father – he got me a job, helping out around the complex."

Alongside the concern and grief she felt for this lost boy, she felt pride bloom in her chest for her own son.

"But nothing changed." Kensuke said, his tone pained, as though saying the very words hurt him. "Everyone still thinks I'm crazy. And every day I don't find anything out, it's like I'm failing my Dad and Mom. Constantly. But what I saw that night was_ real_. As real as the giant goddamn robots they're building over at NERV. And Toji was just talking about bad fathers, and he looked at me, and I just –"

"Hey. Hey." Yui moved closer to him, her expression sympathetic as the boy rubbed at his teary eyes again. "It's alright – I understand. And…I believe you."

Kensuke looked up at her, his reddened eyes wide in surprise.

"I was stranded on an island for ten years – and I saw things nobody would ever believe. But believe me, they happened. I have the scars to prove it."

The fair-haired boy swallowed, and then looked out at the garden again. Yui sighed, watching as the boy began to draw in on himself again, despite the hand she had extended.

"Hey, Kensuke."

"Mm?"

"You like science?" The woman asked, with a casual tone.

"…Kinda, yeah."

"Excited for the Particle Accelerator tonight?" Yui inquired, watching as the boy began to brighten up, albeit very slowly. He nodded in response to her question, clearly glad to be off the sensitive topic of his mother's death.

"What would you think…" Yui asked, beginning to smile, "if I could get you a front row seat? My name carries quite a bit of weight in the scientific community, I'm sure Doctor Wells will oblige."

Suddenly, Kensuke's face lifted, the dark conversation completely forgotten.

"You'd do that? Thank you! Oh my god, thank you!" He gasped, his tone ecstatic.

"One condition." Yui held out a hand, and the boy quieted. "Stay positive. Things like this are very difficult. The tides are against you, the deck's not stacked in your favour – however you want to look at it, things are tough. But one day, things will get better. So, even for today – keep smiling, alright? Promise me you'll do that."

Slowly, Kensuke nodded, the beginnings of a wide grin showing on his face. Yui stood up, yawning. "Now – I'm heading into town with Misato, and you and Mana need to head home. Do we have a deal?"

The boy nodded again, vigorously. "Yeah. We have a deal."

"Good." Yui grinned in response, and together, the two headed back into the house.

* * *

><p><strong>And there's the first chapter of episode two! Hopefully you enjoyed it. <strong>

**Here's a small challenge for you - there's a small hint as to the nature of my next and final crossover, hidden in this chapter. Tell me what you think it is, when you review. Thanks for reading!**


	7. Episode 2 - Blackout - Part 2

_Evangelion is property of Studio Khara and GAINAX._

_Green Arrow and Arrow are property of DC Comics and the CW._

* * *

><p><strong><em>NEON GENESIS EVANGELION: YAJIRUSHI NO SENTAN<em>**

* * *

><p>Ritsuko's fingers fluttered across a keyboard as she gazed, from behind glasses, at a computer monitor. Administration reports, shipping rosters for medical supplies, and e-mails flashed across the screen as the doctor worked robotically, the dark circles under her eyes evidence of how long she had been working today.<p>

For a brief moment, her fingers slipped, but the moment was all that was required for one report to close without saving, for a good half-hour of work to be lost. Cursing, the woman reached up to remove her glasses, and tossed them to the table in front of her.

Letting out a tired sigh, she leaned back in her chair, rubbing at bloodshot eyes. Behind her, the door to her office slid open, and Ritsuko lurched forward, grasping for her glasses as she began to sputter apologies.

"_Mother_ – Sorry, I was just – just resting - that's all -"

"Guess again." A devious, but quiet female voice replied, that was definitely _not_ her mother.

Ritsuko let out a small noise of surprise as she was spun around in her chair, her eyes meeting those of Maya Ibuki.

She was a mousy, petite woman, with a head of brown, close-cropped hair, and large dark eyes that shone with emotion – in this case, mischief.

"How long have you been on shift?" The technician enquired, leaning closer, her hands on Ritsuko's shoulders. The doctor blushed, and looked away from her.

"Ten hours." She mumbled, in reply.

"You need a break." Maya replied, her hands sliding up Ritsuko's shoulders, to her neck, gently tangling themselves in her hair.

"No, Maya…" The blonde gasped, as the technician drew closer. "I'm almost done – _mmf_ –"

Maya took the opportunity to shut her girlfriend up, kissing her hard. Capitalising on the opportunity, she took the time to settle down into the doctor's lap. Finally, Ritsuko remembered how to respond, and looped her arms around the other woman, pulling her closer as their kisses grew quicker and feverish.

The brown-haired woman gasped as her lover broke the kiss, and tilted Maya's head up to attack an unblemished, long neck. She let out a moan –

"_RITSUKO!" _Naoko roared, from the doorway of the office. The two lovers broke apart like they had burnt each other, Maya stumbling back onto her feet, hair mussed, with lipstick stains on her lips and neck, whilst Ritsuko accidently pushed back in her chair, hitting against the table behind her.

Naoko stalked into the office with murder in her eyes, and glared at the flustered Maya, who took the hint, and darted out of the office as gracefully as she could. Rounding on Ritsuko next, she began to approach with a deadly expression.

"So this is what you've been spending your time doing, daughter? _Whoring around with Ibuki?_"

The younger woman swallowed as her mother approached, but stood up tall, refusing to cow beneath her.

"It's not like that, Mother. I was simply –"

There was the sound of an impact on flesh, and Ritsuko realised, sprawled back against the table, that her mother had just punched her. Blood trickled from a small cut on her lip, and she blinked, trying to collect herself in Naoko's presence, who simply straightened the collar of her lab coat as if nothing had happened.

"Inform me of your progress – if any." Naoko requested, casually, and watched as her daughter staggered back into her chair, facing the computer.

Ritsuko took a moment to breathe, before speaking again, and tasted blood.

"The current formula only induces mild disorientation and pain, when tested on human subjects." The doctor said, watching the monitor as it displayed the chemical makeup of a compound she had been working on for the better part of two months.

"Only mild?" Naoko inquired, leaning in for a better look at the display.

"We'd need to upend the current chemical ratio in order to increase the effects – but you risk making each successive dose increasingly lethal." Ritsuko elaborated, and she glanced back as her mother snorted.

"Your point? We're making a poison – not an aesthetic. Change what must be changed – then inform me when we're ready to test the formula again." The greying woman said, and slipped her hands into her coat pockets, beginning to make her way for the door, before she turned again.

"One more thing. Whatever's going on between you and that girl – it ends now. I don't care how you take care of it, just do it." Naoko hissed, and pressed the button to open the door.

"But – Mother! You can't expect me to-"

"If you don't, I'll have that degenerate out of a job by the month's end. I'm sure you don't want that – if the ridiculous messages the two of you have been exchanging are any indication."

Ritsuko flushed in indignation, but remained silent as her mother walked out of her office, with one final warning.

"Don't try my patience, Ritsuko – others have tried, and they'll never try again."

The door slid shut, and Ritsuko promptly collapsed into her chair, burying her face in her hands. Groaning and cursing her luck under her breath, she glanced at the computer between her fingers.

The file labelled V3RT1G0 was highlighted, ready to do whatever the doctor wanted with it. She right-clicked, and a drop down menu appeared.

Slowly, painfully, Ritsuko drew the mouse down over the option marked 'Delete'. She brought her finger down on the left mouse button – and froze, just millimetres away from destroying all that her mother had wanted for the past month.

Seconds passed, and she didn't come any closer to deleting the file.

With an anguished yell, she tore the mouse away from the computer, and hurled it at the nearby wall, where it shattered into fragments of plastic and silicon circuitboard. Folding her arms across the table, Ritsuko buried her face in them and wept.

* * *

><p>"You're a good driver." Yui observed, nonchalantly.<p>

"Thanks." Misato replied, from the front seat of the limo. Despite the vehicle's abnormal length, when compared to most consumer cars, and the unwieldy handling that resulted from that, the bodyguard was able to weave through the streets of the city with speed, as well as an admirable degree of control and grace.

The two had left Kensuke and Mana back at Misato's apartment half an hour ago, and were now in search of a coffee shop or similar in the city centre. Yui stared out of her window, deep in thought.

_It needs to be somewhere where I can examine the building without much suspicion. _

_It's a high-rise office building in the middle of the city, so it stands to reason that with all the activity in and around it, someone would be smart enough to open a business nearby, selling coffee to sleep-deprived, aimless pencil-pushers._

_Once I find it, I can give Misato the once-over, and get an idea on what I'm dealing with, here, before I move in tomorrow night. _

Out of the corner of her eye, Yui spied what appeared to be a café to their left, and when she looked out of the right-side passenger window, she was able to see the towering office building that her targets inhabited, the midday sunlight reflecting off shining windows.

"Sorry, Misato?"

"Mm?" The bodyguard turned her head slightly, eyes still on the road.

"We just passed a café. Is it alright if you could –" Yui enquired, and Misato pulled the car into a frighteningly sudden u-turn, breaking at least three traffic regulations as she navigated onto the opposite side of the road.

"No problem at all, Mrs. Ikari." Misato replied, the tiniest hint of a smirk on her face.

* * *

><p>Sometime later, over coffee and those tiny biscuits Yui couldn't resist – despite how they added virtually nothing to her diet but useless calories – she and Misato spoke about any matter that came to their minds, gradually growing acquainted with the other.<p>

"So – you're not planning to return to NERV?" Misato inquired, and in front of her, Yui arched an eyebrow. Elaborating, the dark-haired woman reached out to grab her coffee cup, and take another sip. "Your husband notified me. I realise you don't have much of a daily routine as of yet, but once you do settle in – it would be helpful to keep me appraised of your day-to-day activities."

Nodding in understanding, Yui steepled her fingers together, resting them in her lap. "Well, as you said – I don't have much of a routine. I'm just settling in. Aside from going on the odd run or gym excursion, I won't be leaving the house much for now."

"I see." Misato glanced out of the nearby window, appearing to ponder on something for a moment, and the other woman narrowed her eyes slightly.

"Is something the matter?" Yui asked, and the bodyguard turned her head to face her again.

"Kensuke seemed quite – happy when I left him back to the apartment. He's usually far more subdued, especially around Mana."

"Oh, that – I may have had something to do with that." The brown-haired woman replied, with a small smile, and Misato's brow furrowed.

"What do you mean?"

Yui plucked a biscotti from the small plate in front of her, and chewed it contemplatively, before speaking.

"Kensuke got a little bent out of shape before you came back. A comment about his…father, I believe?"

Misato groaned in response, rubbing at the bridge of her nose.

"I offered to get in touch with the head of STAR Labs for him. So he could pay a visit, see the particle accelerator tonight." Yui explained, then watched as her bodyguard looked back up at her.

"Why would you do that for him?" She inquired, some of her dark hair spilling over her eyes. She brushed it back over her ear, waiting for the older woman's response.

"Kensuke told me about what happened to his mother," Yui said, and furrowed her brow slightly as Misato gave a tired sigh in response, but continued regardless, "And I think he just needs something to keep his spirits up."

The bodyguard took a generous gulp of her own coffee, before setting it down on the table rather loudly. "I'm sorry."

"For what?" Yui inquired, confused.

"Kensuke still has trouble admitting to himself, and to others what really happened – he keeps parroting that story to anyone who will listen –"

"Whatever happened that night," the other woman interrupted, rather brusquely, "I believe the child needs a break."

"From what?" Misato asked, voice somewhat louder than previous. "I'm trying my best with him – Mana is too, but no matter what we do, he won't come out of his shell – won't face reality! And I'm sorry if your time has been wasted, but I'd prefer that he didn't go to STAR Labs. The last thing I want is for that thing to malfunction and for him to be right next to it."

Yui remained quiet, as the dark-haired woman collected herself, then finished off the rest of her coffee.

"I'll be right back. Excuse me." Misato murmured, leaving Yui to watch as she strode towards the bathrooms.

Letting out a sigh, Yui turned in her seat to gaze out the window, up at the office building across from the shop.

_Fifty stories. Going in through the lobby is obviously out of the question, so I'll need to enter from the roof._

_There's thickened rims around nearly every windowpane – bulletproof glass? Wouldn't be surprised. There also appear to be pronounced locks on the windowpanes closet to me – most likely electromagnetic. _

_The same would apply to their doors inside as well. That'll pose a problem if I'm trying to storm the building quickly. SEELE certainly knows how to hide their moles. The only way I could disable the locks before going in would be to kill the city's entire power grid – and that's something I simply can't do. I don't really want to do it either, given the massive risk to civilians that would result from it._

_I'll need to plan this carefully – _

"Excuse me, Mrs. Ikari?"

Yui turned, to see Misato, standing beside their table.

"Are you ready to go?" The bodyguard inquired, and after draining the last of her mug, the Ikari woman rose to her feet and nodded.

"I phoned Kensuke while I was in the bathroom. Hewasn't too pleased that he wasn't going to STAR Labs tonight." Misato said, as she and Yui headed out of the café. "I hate to be blunt, ma'am, but I'd appreciate it if you didn't try to fix their problems for them. Only they can do that."

Slowly, Yui nodded, keeping her expression placid. "Of course. Self-dependency and all that."

As she slid back into the backseat of the limo, with Misato climbing into the driver's seat, she frowned.

_Misato seems like a fairly amenable woman. But she's also very much a realist – which explains her attitude towards Kensuke, even if she does care for him. _

"Where to?" Misato asked, from the front.

"Home, please." Yui said, moving back over to the far side, leaning against the window as her eyes drifted shut.

* * *

><p><em>Ten years ago.<em>

* * *

><p>Yui's throat burned as she expelled saltwater and bile onto the sand beneath her. She'd awoken only minutes ago, washed up on some beach. Groaning, she rolled onto her back, her sopping wet hair obscuring her vision as she tried to catch her breath.<p>

_Survive._

Her father's final word to her rang throughout her mind, and she let out a hoarse, painful sob, the image of him being dragged beneath the waves flashed behind her eyes. Her clothes were heavy with water and sand, and her muscles were exhausted from trying to keep her afloat all night long.

Staggering to her feet, she looked around aimlessly, to try and figure out where she was. To her rear, was the beginning of what looked like an expansive forest, or jungle – to her left and right, more sand and rocks, and in front of her – endless, rolling waves, stretching out towards the horizon.

Yui's eyes widened, and she backed away from the shore slowly, the horrific reality of her situation beginning to wash over her just as the tide had.

_I have no idea where I am. _

_What about the Contact Experiment? They can't go ahead without me!_

_Shinji!_

_Gendo!_

The heel of her left boot caught on a rock, and the dazed woman stumbled back onto her backside, left to stare out at the infinite expanse of water. Tears began to trickle down Yui's cheeks, and she hugged her knees to her chest, trying to keep her sobs quiet and dignified, even in the middle of nowhere.

Her stomach ached, desperate for food, and the woman swallowed, a hand resting on her abdomen. Gradually, she rose to her feet, and turned to look at the imposing forest behind her.

_Survive._

Sniffling, Yui began to make her way for the vegetation, unaware that a figure was watching her, hidden far up in the trees.

The watcher's face was hidden by a full, two-tone facemask, the left side black, and the right side a faded orange. Inquisitive blue eyes examined the new arrival to the island, whilst a long ponytail of platinum-blonde hair trailed out of the back of the mask. Although the mysterious figure's form was covered entirely by dark clothing, the wider hips and narrower waist indicated that they were female.

Hand resting on the pommel of a sheathed blade, the masked woman watched as the desolate survivor vanished into the green, and then silently leapt off the branch, endeavouring to follow her.

* * *

><p><em>Now.<em>

* * *

><p>Eyes opening as Misato wheeled the limo back into the driveway of the Ikari household, Yui straightened up in her seat, unbuckling her seatbelt as the bodyguard killed the ignition. Without waiting for the other woman to open the door, Yui emerged from the car and began to walk towards the front door, rolling her neck slightly to get rid of any cricks. The sky was now darkened - it was surely late, as Japan's perpetual summer made sure of long days and short nights – although the gathering clouds destroyed any hopes of a clear night.<p>

Yui glanced down at her watch - the numbers blinked eight-thirty PM - and she looked around to see Misato coming up behind her, stuffing the keys to the limo in her pocket.

"I hope you don't mind – I took the scenic route." The bodyguard said, watching as Yui opened the door without reply, but held it open for her.

"Thanks." Misato murmured, walking into the house and rolling her shoulders. Behind her, Yui headed for the stairs, intending to check on her son.

"Mrs. Ikari?"

Turning to face Misato, Yui raised one eyebrow in question.

"It's my first official day on the job tomorrow. I just want to get one thing straight – your husband is waving a large salary in my face, and I do take my job seriously – my ability to keep you from harm may very well infringe on your comfort zone." The dark-haired woman stated, and Yui nodded.

"I understand completely." She replied, and then watched as Misato reached into her pocket to extract a ringing phone, and bring it to her ear.

"Hey, Mana. Everything alright?" Misato asked. Something clearly wasn't, as the woman's previously calm expression contorted into one of shock and disbelief.

"What do you mean, _Kensuke's gone?_ The school? Well, why would he – ugh, nevermind. I'll get him now."

Gritting her teeth, Misato ended the call, and looked up at Yui.

"That was Mana. Apparently, Kensuke's left the apartment. He's headed for the school, for some reason. Sorry, but I really have to go –"

Yui held out a hand in permission. "Go ahead – and thank you for today, Misato."

"Just doing my job, ma'am. See you tomorrow." The bodyguard replied, turning and making a beeline for the door.

* * *

><p>Shinji's room was empty, upon inspection – a note was left on the desk that he had been called to NERV during the afternoon to run simulations with Damian and Asuka.<p>

Yui stared at the note, pensively, and then made her way out of her son's room, deciding to spend the night relaxing on the couch, with only her plans for tomorrow as company.

* * *

><p>After removing her boots, the woman stretched out with a yawn, and then flopped back on the largest couch in the lounge, idly flipping through the channels of the obscenely large TV on the far wall.<p>

Eventually, she came to rest on a channel currently running the news, and after an absolutely thrilling piece on Suzaku, a small cat from Hokkaido with the remarkable ability to perform acrobatics – or, throw himself up into the air and gyrate aimlessly – the scene switched to a live correspondence from the outside of STAR Labs Tokyo-3, as a female reporter narrated events happening inside the building, from underneath an umbrella.

"**We're live outside STAR Labs, despite the inclement weather, which is only going to get worse. The torrential downpour has driven away almost all the protesters, though STAR Labs CEO Harrison Wells has…" **

Losing interest quickly, Yui rested her head on one of the armrests, and as she gazed up at the ceiling, she recounted the details of her excursion tomorrow night.

_I'll need to find some way to sever the building's power. It'll be difficult to find the schematics on such short notice, but I should be able to manage._

"**We are now being told to evacuate the facility – the storm may have caused a malfunction in the primary cooling system. Officials are now attempting to shut down the particle accelerator, but have been so far unable to regain control of the system –"**

The TV darkened suddenly, along with all lights in the lounge. Bolting to her feet, Yui looked around, and then quickly stalked out of the room, into the main hallway, which was also pitch black.

_A blackout? Now? _

There was a booming, echoing noise from outside, and the woman sprinted to the front door, wrenching it open.

In the distance, a pale column of golden light rose up into the clouds, and Yui's eyes widened, as a transparent shockwave of similar colour burst out from the origin point, and washed over Tokyo-3.

As it did, every light, every electronic device in the city cut out, leaving Yui, and every person in Toyko-3 in complete darkness.

Several moments passed, and there was no sign of the lights coming back. Immediately, a new plan occurred to the woman standing in the doorway, and she toed into a pair of boots by the door, before sprinting towards the garage.

_If the entire city's without power, that means that the electromagnetic locks on the building have failed – there's nothing keeping me out now. Part of me wants to stay here, remain planning – but an opportunity like this never comes along. _

Vaulting over the hood of Gendo's personal car, Yui strode over to a solitary motorcycle, standing in the corner. The helmet rested on one of the handlebars, and she plucked it away, shoving it over her head, before straddling the bike.

_It's time to scratch some names off the list._

* * *

><p><strong>First half of double update. <strong>

**Get in, losers. We're going arching. **

**Read and review!**


	8. Interlude 02 - The Fastest Man Alive

_Evangelion is property of Studio Khara and GAINAX._

_Green Arrow and Arrow are property of DC Comics and the CW._

* * *

><p><strong><em>NEON GENESIS EVANGELION: YAJIRUSHI NO SENTAN<em>**

* * *

><p>Hugging his coat tighter around him – the school was freezing when nobody else was around – Kensuke stared out of the window of his high-school chemistry lab, which afforded a subpar view of the STAR Labs facility in the distance.<p>

Granted, it was better than the absolute lack of a view he would have witnessed, had he remained home like Misato insisted.

_I can't believe Misato would do something like that! Shinji's mother is probably the first person ever to believe me, or – or even treat me with complete and utter respect! And Misato just thinks she can ground me?_

The boy scowled, and thunder boomed overhead.

_Mana seemed a little cheesed off, though._

_I really shouldn't have just walked out like that – I should have explained properly. She deserves that much._

As images of a warm, friendly girl with a mop of brown hair flew through Kensuke's mind, the lights in the chemistry lab darkened.

_What?_

Kensuke moved around the tables and chairs, looking around for an explanation, when something thundered in the distance. Drifting over to the window, his jaw dropped as what could only be described as a pillar of golden energy burst out from STAR Labs, burying itself into the clouds above.

_That's not good. _

Suddenly, what appeared to be a shockwave of the self-same energy spread out from the pillar of light, blanketing Tokyo-3 before dissipating completely – along with all the power in the city. As the brightly-lit Fortress City turned into an arrangement of pitch-black columns in the distance, Kensuke backed up, cursing.

_What the hell just happened? _

_I hope Mana's still at home. I hope she's alright._

Immediately, the boy made the very wise decision to get home as soon as possible, and began to walk to the door as lightning flashed overhead. Kensuke paused – something was amiss, and he looked around, despite his survival instincts screaming at him to get out of the damned lab.

Across the lab, all liquids began to defy gravity, bubbling up into the air without any apparent cause. Eyes widening as he stared at the floating chemicals, Kensuke ran a flustered hand through his hair, and then looked up as bright light shone down from above.

Through the skylight of the laboratory, he watched as the clouds above burst with golden energy – and barely had the time to curse in shock as a bolt of yellow lightning crashed through the glass, electrocuting the boy and sending him flying.

Kensuke's limp form crashed into a free-standing rack of chemicals near the rear of the classroom, and it toppled over, dousing both the floor and the unfortunate boy as the door of the chemistry lab opened.

As Misato bolted into the room, screaming Kensuke's name in horror, she failed to notice the snaking trails of golden lightning disappearing into his skin.

* * *

><p><strong>Second half of double update.<strong>


	9. Episode 2 - Blackout - Part 3

_Evangelion is property of Studio Khara and GAINAX._

_Green Arrow and Arrow are property of DC Comics and the CW._

* * *

><p><strong><em>NEON GENESIS EVANGELION: YAJIRUSHI NO SENTAN<em>**

* * *

><p>Naoki Nakata was, by his own admission and that of others, not an excitable man. In his fifty-three years, he had always kept a dour, drab countenance, never truly letting go, never truly surrendering himself to soaring joy or stomach-churning fear.<p>

It was control, discipline of his mind and emotions that had opened up opportunities previously hidden – with unfettered determination and dedication, he had been able to ingratiate himself with something far greater than any normal man or woman could hope to become part of, and as a reward for silent, single-minded effort, he enjoyed a comfortable, well-fed life courtesy of his employers.

However, when all the lights in the building gave out, and the electromagnetic locks on his office door and windows unlocked with a barely audible whine, the normally unflappable Nakata flinched.

His hand disappeared under his table, fumbling through drawers containing papers, stationary, and otherwise irrelevant objects, until his fingers closed around the reassuring, solid form of a two-way radio, an object that nearly everyone else in the building was unaware he possessed.

Extending the antenna to its full length, Nakata switched the radio on, the sound of static feedback filling the pitch-black office. Holding the device in front of him, he depressed the transmission button, and spoke, voice tranquil.

"This is the Eye. Please sound off." The man muttered into the radio, and waited for a reply. Soon, responses came, crackling slightly over the frequency.

"This is the Mouth. All good on this end."

"This is the Nose. Nothing wrong here."

"The Ear, reporting."

Due to the highly sensitive nature of his work, he was required to use a codename, and the three other men inside this building were required to as well - the names reflected their roles as SEELE's surveillance heads of Tokyo-3.

"What's happened?" Nakata murmured, glancing up at his office door as he spoke.

"An accident at STAR Labs. Must have caused a disruption in the grid." The one identified only as the Ear replied.

The sound of panicked feet dashing past his door drew Nakata's eyes once more, but he didn't appear to otherwise react.

"I'll activate the monitors. They're set up on a separate generator for an occasion like this." Nakata grumbled, and his fingers sought out a singular button located somewhere underneath his desk.

When it was found, and subsequently pressed with a satisfying click, three moderately sized computer monitors emerged from the previously unremarkable desk, flicking on and bathing the office in artificial light, and from inside the desk, a slim, unremarkable keyboard slid out.

Naktata was a thin, pale man – with a hairline only just beginning to recede, and narrow, frail shoulders, it was evident he had spent far more time behind a desk than was healthy. Bony, worn fingers stabbed across the keyboard as he activated the surveillance feeds, each monitor displaying a two-by-two grid of video sources from inside the building.

Several groups of disquieted workers had gathered inside meeting halls, and the canteen, and he watched with a small amount of amusement as they panicked and fretted, the blackout seeming to have spooked the herd at large. His mouth curled slightly in a superior smirk.

_Pathetic._

Otherwise, nothing appeared to be out of the ordinary – all the corridors were otherwise empty, save for the occasional pencil pusher feeling blindly through the darkness.

"Everything appears to be otherwise quiet." Nakata observed, setting the radio down on the desk as he examined each of the displays. There was silence, and an absence of movement for several minutes, and the man leaned back in his seat, idly wondering when the building's power would be restored.

Suddenly, there was movement – a dark, hooded form darting down one of the corridors on the tenth floor.

Lurching forward in his seat, Nakata's eyes widened slightly as he watched the intruder sprint through the darkness. He grabbed the radio, keeping his eyes on the monitor – but the figure had already disappeared from view, presumably into another connecting corridor.

"There's someone in the building. Repeat, _there's someone in the building._" The man hissed, eyes flitting over to the monitors. There was a brief flurry of movement on the twelfth floor, and the dark form reappeared for only a moment before it was gone again.

"They're on the twelfth floor – Ear, they may be coming for you." He warned, gaze trained on the displays.

Over the radio, the agitated voice of the Ear echoed, along with the sounds of frantic activity on the other end. "Shit!" The voice was far less composed than Nakata's, and at least two decades younger.

"Don't panic, Ear. Arm yourself, you'll be –"

The unmistakable sound of a magazine sliding into a weapon clicked over the radio, and Nakata narrowed his eyes as he listened to what could only be the door of the Ear's room being pushed open, as its occupant dashed out with weapon firm in hand.

_Young fool._

His attention returned to the monitors in front of him, and he watched silently as the small, portly form of the Ear stumbled into a corridor, holding his weapon out far in front of him as if it might serve as a crucifix to banish the hellish intruder.

On the display, the man turned around, expression frantic as he aimed in every direction he could. Something appeared to draw his attention, and he turned, the corridor flashing with poorly aimed shots from his weapon.

The Ear kept firing in the same direction, until he appeared to have exhausted his weapon's ammunition – and he shook the gun in disbelief, desperately fidgeting and slapping it as if to somehow conjure one more bullet.

Nakata watched as the scene played out – the Ear appeared to look up, his empty gun forgotten – and then reeled as something forced him back, onto the ground where he remained still and unmoving.

Slowly, the older man reached out for his radio, and spoke.

"The Ear is dead. There is an assassin in the building."

Panicked curses came from the other two men on the line, and Nakata pressed a few select keys to enlarge the image in front of him.

It was somewhat difficult to make out in the low light, and with the added grain of the camera's low-light mode, but he could discern what appeared to be two long, narrow shafts sticking up out of the Ear's chest.

Nakata squinted, trying to make more of the image out, and furrowed his brow.

_Arrows?_

_What's SEELE's enforcer doing here? And why is he after us?_

Speaking into his radio once more, Nakata stood out of his chair, and reached into his jacket, producing a sidearm.

"I think it's past time we all left. Get to your designated exits – quickly."

With his gun in one hand and the radio in the other, the man made his way for the door of his office. Pushing it open with his foot, he stepped out into the darkened corridor, and, as quickly as he could in the darkness, headed for the nearest stairwell.

Suddenly, the radio burst to life again, and Nakata stopped in the hallway for the briefest of moments, but quickly forced himself to press on, listening all the while.

The man who had identified as the Nose cried out, his voice high with pain and terror.

"_Please! _I haven't done anything! Don't kill –"

The sound of something whistling through the air was barely audible over the radio, and the man's voice ceased.

Nakata gritted his teeth, and began to run through the tight corridors, cursing and grunting as he impacted the walls more than once.

Rounding a corner, the man let out a small sigh of relief, as he came upon the entrance to one of the stairwells. Wrenching the door open as quickly as he could, Nakata began to descend, shoes clapping loudly against the steps.

By the time he had moved five floors down, the Mouth's voice erupted from the radio, the ragged breaths Nakata's only companion as he sought escape from the building that had become an abattoir for his brethren.

However, it was only a matter of time before the radio was silent once more, and the man let out a frustrated curse, tossing the now useless object away from him.

Turning to descend down the next flight of stairs, Nakata stopped dead as he made an unpleasant discovery – the stairwell stopped on the twenty-fifth floor, a considerable distance away from any kind of exit out of the building.

With the elevators inoperable due to the blackout, and little other choice, he headed back into the main body of the building, gun clutched tight in one hand.

_There should be a stairwell leading down to the bottom floors at the opposite end of this level – if I can just make it there…_

"Naoki Nakata."

Nakata froze midway down the corridor, staring straight ahead. The voice that had rang out behind him was deep – almost unnaturally so. Swallowing, he turned.

It was only by the grace of the moonlight shining in through a small, insignificant window that he could make out any of his assailant – average height, hooded, the silhouette of a quiver on their back – and hefting a bow and arrow, aimed directly at him.

"You have forsaken humanity." The figure growled, and Nakata shifted on the spot, his expression tight as he struggled to remain composed, even in the face of death.

"And how have I done that?" The man retorted, looking straight ahead at his attacker, who remained silent, offering no reply save to draw the arrow back tighter with an audible strain of the bowstring.

"Why are you even here? I've done nothing except what my superiors have told me to do." Nakata defended, voice wavering more than he would care to admit – and then cringed as the lights lining the corridor suddenly flared into life once more. Blinking repeatedly to allow his eyes to adjust, he tried to get a better look at his assailant.

It was glaringly obvious that the figure was not who he thought it was – instead of heavy, dark clothing like he had been expecting, they wore a dark, fitted green leather jacket and pants. A hood of a lighter, more vibrant green was attached to the jacket's shoulders, and drawn tight over a mostly hidden face – but Nakata was able to make out a chin and mouth, the rest hidden by shadow and what appeared to be a heavy coating of greasepaint around the eyes.

The figure appeared to scowl, and unceremoniously drew back their bow once more, before letting the arrow fly across the corridor, straight into the centre of his chest.

The man stumbled, letting out a surprised noise, and his hands reached up to fumble with the shaft, shaking fingers brushing over the green fletching, but it was quickly joined by another arrow, one that pierced Nakata's heart.

* * *

><p>As the last of her targets collapsed to the ground, Yui immediately turned, keeping her bow in front of her as she dashed back down the hallway.<p>

_The power's back – along with the locks. _

To her right, there was a plain, unmarked door, presumably leading into another corridor. She gave it a sharp, experimental push, but it refused to give, and she gritted her teeth in frustration.

_I should have waited – found a way to cut the building's power directly._

The sound of heavy boots thudding across the floor drew her attention, and she turned, watching as three heavily armed SWAT officers came around the corner.

"Drop your weapon! Hands in the air!"The lead officer thundered, hefting his rifle at Yui, who remained still, like a deer caught in headlights.

Suddenly, she lashed out with a vicious back kick, one powerful enough to smash the door at her side inwards, the lock breaking off with a satisfying crunch of wood and retaining a small chunk of the door in the process. Ducking into the corridor as rifles cracked behind her, she sprinted onwards, hand reaching back to pick through her quiver.

Yui disappeared around another corner, just in time to avoid several more bullets, and drew out an arrow, with a cylindrical capsule just below its broad head. Aiming at a window at the end of the corridor, she fired the arrow.

The projectile impacted the window, and the explosive charge stored in the shaft erupted in a gout of flame – but when the fire and smoke cleared seconds later, the window was still mostly intact, save for a few large cracks.

_Problem: The explosive didn't break through._

_Solution: __**Apply more explosives.**_

Another explosive arrow flew from Yui's bow, and its blast served to send the already prominent cracks sprawling across the reinforced pane of glass. Behind her, the SWAT officers approached, raising their weapons again.

With the window only a few meters away, Yui had no choice – she fired one last explosive, and then with gritted teeth, hurled herself at the window, through the dissipating blast. It gave way, splintering under her wait, and she was glad that she'd chosen to wear leather – less durable clothing would have been shredded by the shards.

_Wait. Something's amiss._

_Oh, that's right – falling to my death._

As the archer plummeted from the broken window, the streets rising up at terrifying speeds to meet her, she span in midair, and readied her bow.

The arrow flew straight and true – it penetrated the hard stone of the building's construction, trailing behind it a reinforced bungee line, attached to Yui's bow.

She stopped only metres from the ground, and as the cable spent its last few inches of give, bringing her that much closer to the ground, she released it just before it could spring her back up, and landed cleanly on the sidewalk.

Already, she could hear police cruisers approaching, their sirens screaming out, and after slinging her bow across her chest, bolted for a nearby alleyway, where her motorcycle had been parked for a quick escape.

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><p><strong>Read and review! Expect the conclusion to this episode this week!<strong>


	10. Episode 2 - Blackout - Part 4

_Evangelion is property of Studio Khara and GAINAX._

_Green Arrow and Arrow are property of DC Comics and the CW._

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><p><strong><em>NEON GENESIS EVANGELION: YAJIRUSHI NO SENTAN<em>**

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><p>The wheels of the hospital bed squealed as it was wheeled down the hospital's darkened corridor, pushed forwards by two nurses. Behind the bed, Misato and Mana followed – the older woman's face was a stony mask, cracked with the stress and fear of the past hour, whilst her younger charge was far less composed, eyes reddened and tear-tracks across her cheeks.<p>

On the bed, Kensuke lay, unmoving – a breathing mask had been affixed to his face, and his shirt opened down the middle, when a medic had previously attempted to revive the boy.

Ahead of the procession, a doctor was waiting, his fatigue evident in the slight slump of his posture. It was no surprise – the past hour and a half had been _busy_. He stepped forward, meeting the nurses and the bed they were ferrying into a nearby room.

"What happened?" The doctor inquired, leaning over the form on the bed for a moment to examine him.

"Struck by lightning." One of the attending nurses replied, voice sharp and clinical.

"How is he still alive? Nevermind – get him set up in there, quickly." The doctor replied, indicating the room beside them with a jab of his thumb, before following the two in.

Outside of the room, Misato and Mana stood, the latter of whom looked ready to burst into tears once again. Lip trembling, the girl looked up at her guardian, eyes watering.

"W – Why isn't he being taken to the NERV hospital?"

"Because, Mana," Misato began, looking around the length of the corridor, which was swamped with other patients and staff, "The trip would take far too long. We can't risk anything, especially if there's something wrong with his heart."

The woman's voice was surprisingly steady, but it was low, almost seeming to drift off on the last few words as if they didn't want to be said.

After several agonising moments, the doctor stepped out of the room, and glanced around, before his eyes settled on the pair of them.

"Are you with the boy?" He inquired, a clipboard held in one hand.

"Yeah." Misato replied, tersely. "I'm his guardian."

"Is he gonna be okay?" Mana blurted out, anxious.

The doctor sighed, and looked back into the room, where the two nurses were connecting the boy to an EKG.

"We don't know just yet – and with the power out and only the backup generator to rely on, it may take even longer to –"

The doctor was interrupted as several lights in the corridor activated, flooding the space with brightness, and subdued cheers from several occupants. Letting out a relieved breath, the doctor began to move back into the room, but not before addressing Misato and Mana.

"I suggest you find one of our reception desks – and fill out the paperwork for this boy here. We'll do our best to keep him stabilised, and let you know when you can visit him."

"Thank you, doctor." Misato murmured, and as the man disappeared into the room, closing the door behind him, Mana let out a small, quiet sob.

Wordlessly, the older woman reached out and pulled the girl into a tight hug, as she looked through the window of the door, at her other charge lying prone on the bed.

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><p>Ooi Satsuki was, to put it bluntly, having a bad day.<p>

And it wasn't the kind of bad day where she had the luxury of crawling back to her apartment to hide in pillows and suffocate her sorrows in liberal helpings of ice cream, or the kind of bad day where she could at least _pretend _everything was alright – rather, it was the kind of bad day where she was being chased down a city street by five men, in the middle of a blackout – while wearing heels.

However, the rising pain in her feet was the last thing the blonde had on her mind as she dashed through the darkened streets, her hair whipping in the wind. Behind her, jeers and hollers echoed as the men, all far heavier and larger than her, drew ever closer.

Breathing hard, Ooi's eyes darted around the street, to try and find some way – any way – out of this mess. Ahead of her, she spied what appeared to be an entrance to an alleyway.

_No. Do not go in there! You don't know if it won't be a dead end!_

Despite her indecisions, she had little choice – turning into the alley as soon as she could, stumbling as her momentum threatened to unbalance her. She looked ahead – and her eyes widened in fear.

_A dead end, you moron!_

With terror driving her forward, Ooi ran blindly towards the end of the alley, desperately seeking for somewhere to hide. With the sounds of her pursuers drawing ever closer, the woman ran towards a nearby dumpster, and cowered behind it, her breathing ragged.

Trying to remain silent, she listened as the men stepped into the alley, their calls and taunts echoing off the sides of the buildings.

"Where you runnin' to, fine thing?"

"We just wanna talk, that's all…"

"It won't take that long…"

Ooi stilled her breathing, and drew in on herself, closing her eyes tight. Silently, she prayed that she would wake up seconds from now in her small, cramped apartment, and realise that this horrid nightmare was exactly that, and nothing more.

"_Found you!" _

The woman yelped and shuffled back against the alley wall, shielding her head with her arms. Behind them, she watched as the man drew closer, his eyes wide with malice.

Suddenly, there was the sound of a hard, meaty impact behind the man, and he turned, letting out a surprised yell as an armoured, green-gloved hand shattered his nose with a powerful strike.

The assembled group descended into chaos, as their leader fell back, dazed. Ooi shrieked, shuffling away from the man's swaying form as he came crashing down where she had been cowering.

Her eyes darted around the alleyway, searching for whoever or whatever had come to the rescue.

One of the men shouted out, the beginnings of a warning, as he drew a pistol from his waistband. Abruptly, he let out a shriek, clutching his hand as the pistol clattered to the damp ground, ignored.

Moonlight caught on the two boomerang-like projectiles embedded in his hand, the red metal glinting.

There was a sound – like a rustling of fabric, and something landed in the middle of the men, before bursting into motion.

Ooi could barely make anything out in the darkness – a deep red tunic, a dusky yellow cape – as the mysterious figure felled her attackers, with astonishing speed and skill, fists, feet, elbows and knees smashing into faces, stomachs, joints and groins.

The last of the men collapsed to the ground, unconscious – it was over as quickly as it had begun. Ooi staggered to her feet, unsteady, gazing at the victorious figure standing only meters away from her.

"Who – _What _are you?" She gasped out, both terrified and amazed.

Without reply, her caped rescuer bounded past her, their features hidden by a black hood, and bounded up a nearby fire escape, scaling it and disappearing over the top of a nearby building.

Staring up at the ledge, mouth agape in shock, Ooi slowly and gracefully sank to the ground, on her knees. She let out hungry, relieved breaths, as it dawned on her that she had actually been saved.

_I'm…I'm okay. And really tired. Maybe I'll just take a nap right here…_

To her right, one of the unconscious men stirred, and the blonde squeaked in shock, quickly standing up and dashing out of the alleyway.

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><p>A satisfied grin on his face, Damian sprinted across the rooftop, his hand drifting to his utility belt as the ledge of the building drew closer. Drawing out a sleek, compact grapnel gun, he leapt off the side, restraining the urge to whoop.<p>

Depressing the trigger of the grapple, a gas-propelled wire blasted out, the sharpened tip burying itself into the masonry of a building across the street.

"_Damian."_

Ignoring the buzzing of the communicator in his ear, Damian let the grapple line go taut, swinging across the length of the street.

"_Hey, kid. I'm talking, here."_

"-tt-" The boy's face twisted into a slight scowl beneath his green domino mask as he landed gracefully on the next building, rolling to dispel his momentum.

"_Damian!" _

"What, Todd? I'm kind of busy at the moment." Damian grumbled, holding a hand up to his ear, as the voice of his guardian came through the earpiece, irritable and rough.

"_Power's being restored to parts of Tokyo-3 – you need to get home now."_

"I'm not nearly finished – there's reports of looting downtown –"The boy countered, but the sight of the buildings around him lighting up once more gave him a moment of pause.

"_Covert operation, babybat. If anyone, anyone who has any connection to SEELE catches a glimpse of Robin or Red Hood, our cover's blown. Now stop acting like a teenager and come home."_

Damian cast one last glance around the skyline of the city as it came back to life, before turning back in the direction of home. A loud, happy bark echoed in his earpiece.

"_Oh, and pick up some dog food. Titus is hungry again."_

"-tt-"

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><p>Wheeling the bike back into the garage of her home, Yui pulled the keys out of the ignition, and put the kickstand down. Changed back into civilian clothes, she stepped off of the bike, and placed the helmet on the handlebar.<p>

_Tonight was both a victory, and a failure._

Shaking out her hair, the woman walked over to the door of the house, opening it and stepping inside. The lights had, like every other in the city, lit up once the blackout had passed, and the main hall was comfortably bright.

_Because the police saw me, I've lost the element of surprise, for the most part. People will know that I'm out there, now – SEELE will know that someone's hunting their own._

_But I did succeed, as well. I've taken out the main surveillance heads, and it'll be many weeks at least before SEELE makes sure any replacements are capable and trustworthy enough._

On the table in front of her, the phone rang noisily, shattering the silence and drawing Yui out of her thoughts. Strolling over to it, she picked it up, and held it to her ear.

"Hello?"

"Yui?" Gendo's voice came, carrying a hint of fatigue.

"Yes?" She replied, questioning.

"Are you alright?" Her husband asked. "I've been trying to get through to the house ever since the blackout started, but the phone lines-"

"It's alright, Gendo. I'm fine." Yui replied, smiling softly at the man's concern for her.

"Good." He replied, and she could hear his sigh of relief through the phone. Suddenly, she remembered – something so obvious and important that she felt like slapping herself for forgetting.

"Do you know where Shinji is?" Yui inquired, leaning against the table slightly.

"He was with a few of the other children in the Pilot's Lounge. The base has emergency generators, so he managed."

"Good, good." She said, airily. "When will you and Shinji be back?"

"I'll see about sending Shinji home soon. Once the Geofront exits have been cleared for service, of course. But I'll need to stay behind for a little longer." Gendo replied.

"Well, I'll be waiting for you when you do come home. I love you." Yui murmured, her smile widening.

"…I love you too. I'll try and get back as quickly as I can."

Setting the phone back on its cradle, the woman sighed, looking up at the ceiling.

_I can only wonder how Gendo will react to the deaths. _

_SEELE will have questions for him, definitely – I only hope he can offer some kind of answer._

* * *

><p><em>Ten years ago.<em>

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><p>Yui had lost track of time – as she had trekked through the forest, her aching stomach an ever-present reminder of her hunger, she had found nothing save for some pools of dirtied water, and even then had only resisted the urge to drink because she knew the bacteria would only worsen her already bleak situation.<p>

Her hair was mussed, and her face was dirtied – the lack of hydration made the woman's features somewhat sharper.

_I…need to find something. The human body can only go three or four days without…without water. _

Yui was exhausted – her muscles still ached, her legs threatening to give out from under her. As she staggered through the difficult terrain of the forest, her eyes drifted shut repeatedly, her only wakeup call the hard, unforgiving impact of the ground.

Lethargic to say the least, she needed shelter and rest – preferably in that order. Moving past the bulk of the vegetation, the woman let out a cry of relief as she came upon a rocky clearing. Just ahead of her, in plain sight, was a cave – that would provide amiable shelter for now.

Shuffling towards the entrance, Yui all but collapsed once she was safely inside, groaning as the rock bruised her knees and elbows. Still, the stone was damp, and somehow comfortable, and quickly, she found herself drifting into slumber without much protest.

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><p>The sound of activity pulled Yui out of her warm, comfortable dream, and her eyes fluttered open slowly as she remembered her current predicament. She was about to let out a desolate groan, but the sound stopped dead in her throat.<p>

In front of her, with their back turned, was a _person_. Clad entirely in dark clothing, she couldn't make any distinguishing traits out, save for the platinum-blonde hair that fell to mid-back in a ponytail. They rummaged in something – a box, a crate of some kind, that hadn't been there before, and then turned, flinching when Yui bolted up and shuffled back against the nearby wall of the cave, her eyes wide with apprehension.

The figure wore a mask – two tone, the left side black and the right side orange. At their hip was a blade, and Yui let out a shaking breath as the stranger crouched down in front of her. They then moved forward, and the woman flung out a hand.

"No! Stay – stay back!" Yui gasped, trembling.

In response, the stranger held up their hands, in a non-threatening manner. Yui quieted, swallowing, and watched as they turned around again, reaching into the box, producing a canister – with liquid sloshing around inside – and what seemed to be some kind of meat, already cooked.

The figure held these gifts out, and Yui met their gaze, noticing something in their eyes.

_Compassion._

"T-thank you." Yui murmured, barely managing half a bow from her awkward position before she began to take large, grateful bites of the food.

Across from her, the masked stranger sat down beside the crate, watching as the woman began to greedily gulp at the water.

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><p><em>Now.<em>

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><p>Moving into the expanse of her and Gendo's room, Yui allowed herself a yawn, before peeling off her shirt and tossing it aside, beginning to search through the room for something looser and more comfortable.<p>

As she did, she moved past the large mirror, mounted on the wardrobe doors, and her eyes didn't miss the ragged, ugly lines of scar tissue that lined her exposed stomach and abdomen.

Expression hardening, Yui's eyes drifted over the numerous marks, before turning and walking towards a nearby window that afforded a view of the city in the distance.

_Tonight was only the beginning. Four names crossed off SEELE's roster. Four names scratched off the list._

_There is no place they will be able to hide from me – and every fool that threw in their lot with SEELE will wish I had died on that island._

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><p>"I'll be right back, Doctor Wells." A nurse said. "Try not to move too much – you may aggravate the spinal damage."<p>

"Of course." The reply was curt, emotionless. "Thank you for your help."

With a nod, the nurse disappeared from the room, and Harrison Wells, CEO of the laboratories that had been responsible for the night's blackout, fifteen deaths and perhaps many more injuries, smirked.

Slowly, awkwardly, he turned the wheelchair he had been confined to only hours ago to face a mirror on the opposite wall. His tall, rakish frame wasn't obvious given his current position, but the low light from a bedside lamp highlighted his high cheekbones, and vivid blue eyes. His short, black hair was, save for a few loose strands that fell in front of his glasses, neat and tidy.

Wells looked over at the open doorway, and from the glimpse of the corridor beyond that he was afforded, he could see that it appeared to be deserted for the time being.

Wheeling himself to and through the doorway, he glanced up and down the corridor – as he suspected, there was no one attending. The hospital seemed to have finally died down after the hours of chaos following the accident, and its hallways were silent.

Ahead of Wells, there was another door, leading into another patient's room. Without hesitation, he wheeled himself forward, and pushed the door open when he was close enough.

Inside, Kensuke Aida lay prone, dressed in a hospital gown and hooked up to an IV drip. Making sure that the door had closed behind him, the man manoeuvred around the bed, coming to its left side.

Casually, Wells, who had been told that he was paralysed from the waist down only hours ago – stood.

With a barely perceptible smirk of triumph, he reached up and removed his glasses, tucking them into the inside pocket of his dark jacket.

Looming over Kensuke's bed, Wells reached out, resting his hand on the unconscious boy's shoulder. His smile was tight, but his eyes were bright with wicked elation. Leaning in, he brushed an errant lock of hair away from the boy's forehead, his voice low.

"Get well soon, Kensuke. You have a bright future ahead of you."

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><p><strong>I am so sorry this took so long - I kept putting it off throughout the day. Hopefully you enjoyed it! Read and review, and come back soon for the beginning of Episode 3, where this story will really begin to kick off!<strong>


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